Introduction: Nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely studied as an alternative to antibiotic use due to their antimicrobial properties at lower concentrations. Enterococcus faecalis is a facultative Gram-positive microorganism inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. It can also be present in other environments such as the oral cavity, water, sewage, soil and food.
Aims: We evaluated whether E. faecalis could develop resistance to silver NPs (AgNPs) after exposure to sublethal concentrations of the NPs.
Methods and results: Proteomic analyses revealed that different pathways were activated during the acquired resistance under sublethal concentrations, and selected genes were validated by qPCR.
Conclusions: The results of this study showed that E. faecalis is capable of generating resistance to AgNPs.
Significance and impact of the study: To avoid the generation of resistance against AgNPs, future use of these NPs should be combined with other NPs prepared with different metals to prevent the dissemination of resistant strains.
Keywords: Enterococcus faecalis; AgNP; antimicrobial; mechanisms of action; mutant; proteomics; resistance; transcriptomics.
© 2021 Society for Applied Microbiology.