Rapid identification of novel specific molecular targets for PCR detection of four Enterococcus species

The Enterococcus spp. comprises several species of Gram-positive bacteria that are of great relevance to human health for their role as major causative agents of health care-associated infections. Therefore, it is of great sig-nificance to excavate novel molecular targets specific to Enterococcus species and establish a rapid detection method. In this study, we screened 58 molecular targets for four Enterococcus species, including E. faecalis, E. faecium, E. hirae, and E. casseliflavus by pan-genome analysis. The corresponding PCR method not only verifies the specificity of mining molecular targets but also can be used as an effective detection tool for molecular diagnosis. In addition, the established PCR method was also used in the blinding tests for human and food samples and the identification results were consistent with 16S rDNA. The exploitation of the specific molecular targets described herein and the unambiguous identification of Enterococcus species through the application of PCR is important for the determination of food contamination and clinical diseases.