Genomic and phenotypic diversity of Enterococcus faecalis from endophthalmitis

Enterococcus faecalis is a leading hospital-associated opportunistic pathogen, and also causes post-operative endophthalmitis. Here, we investigated the genomic and phenotypic characteristics of 15 E. faecalis isolates collected from 13 patients treated at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Eye Center over 9 years. Comparative genomic analysis indicated that patients were infected with E. faecalis of diverse multi-locus sequence types (STs) previously associated with clinical, commensal, and environmental sources. We studied the genomic and phenotypic variability in addition to possible adaptive mechanisms underlying persistence during recurrent ocular infection.