Table 2 Characteristics of plasmids harboring the vanA operon

Schematic appearance

Circular plasmid

Circular plasmid

Putative linear plasmid with one hairpin end

Putative linear plasmid with both hairpin ends

Rep family (incompatibility type)

rep2 (Inc18)

rep2 (Inc18)

putative RepB family

putative RepB family

Size, median (range)

32,082 (18,701–43,334)

42,610 (27,214–51,084)

106,938 (72,306–112,181)

118,791 (105,273–150,375)

Toxin-antitoxin system

zeta-epsilon

zeta-epsilon

hicA-hicB

zeta-epsilon, hicA-hicB

Coresistance gene

 erm(A)

0 (0)

0 (0)

5 (33.3)

0 (0)

 erm(B)

50 (100)

46 (100)

0 (0)

4 (80.0)

 aph(3')-III

0 (0)

46 (100)

0 (0)

4 (80.0)

 ant(9)-Ia

0 (0)

0 (0)

6 (40.0)

0 (0)

Strain type

 ST1421

4 (8.0)

37 (80.5)

2 (0)

0 (0)

 ST17

23 (46.0)

5 (10.9)

5 (33.3)

2 (40.0)

 ST192

9 (18.0)

0 (0)

1 (6.7)

0 (0)

 ST80

4 (8.0)

1 (2.2)

5 (33.3)

3 (60.0)

 ST252

5 (10.0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

 Others

5 (10.0)

3 (6.6)

2 (13.3)

0 (0)

Structure of Tn1546-type transposon

 Tn1546_vanRSHAXYZ

0 (0)

3 (6.6)

14 (87.4)

5 (50.0)

 Tn1546_{vanY::IS1216,ΔvanZ}

45 (90.0)

41 (87.0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

 Tn1546_{Δ(vanY-vanZ)}

3 (6.0)

2 (6.6)

1 (6.3)

5 (50.0)

 Structurally impaired vanA operon

2 (4.0)

0 (0)

1 (6.3)

0 (0)

Vancomcyin-reistsant phenotype

 VanA phenotype

42 (84.0)

38 (82.7)

14 (87.4)

5 (100)

 VanD phenotype

6 (12.0)

8 (17.4)

1 (6.3)

0 (0)

 VS phenotype

2 (4.0)

0 (0)

1 (6.3)

Copy number of vanA operon

 1 copy

50 (100)

45 (97.8)

16 (100)

0 (0)

 2 copies

0 (0)

1 (2.2)

0 (0)

5 (100)

Conjugation ability

0 (0)

0 (0)

8 (66.7)

2 (20.0)

Conjugation frequency

 Per number of donor cells, median (range)

–

–

3.39 × 10^–6

(5.75 × 10^–7–1.18 × 10^–5)

1.91 × 10^–6

(1.75 × 10^–6–2.07 × 10^–6)

 Per number of recipient cells, median (range)

–

–

9.38 × 10^–8

(6.00 × 10^–10–3.87 × 10^–7)

7.40 × 10^–9

(5.05 × 10^–9–9.76 × 10^–9)