Cloning and heterospecific expression of the resistance determinant vanA encoding high-level resistance to glycopeptides in Enterococcus faecium BM4147

Fragments of plasmid pIP816, which confers high-level glycopeptide resistance in Enterococcus faecium BM4147, were cloned into a conjugative gram-negative-gram-positive shuttle vector. The resulting hybrids were transferred by conjugation from Escherichia coli to Enterococcus faecalis and Bacillus thuringiensis. A 4-kilobase EcoRI fragment from pIP816 was found to confer vancomycin resistance in these hosts but not in E. coli or Bacillus subtilis.