Molecular Detection of Linezolid Resistance in Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis by Use of 5′ Nuclease Real-Time PCR Compared to a Modified Classical Approach

A nucleotide transversion from guanine to uracil in the 23S rRNA confers linezolid resistance. We describe a real-time PCR using two Taqman probes that detects a single mutated allele among the genomes of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis. Results were confirmed by a classical approach involving LabChip technology assayed with an Agilent Bioanalyzer 2100.