The aim of this study was to isolate enterococci in Sucuk, a traditional Turkish dry-fermented sausage and to analyze isolates for their biodiversity, antibiotic resistance patterns and the presence of some antibiotic resistance genes. A total of 60 enterococci strains were isolated from 20 sucuk samples manufactured without using a starter culture and they were identified as E. faecium (73.3%), E. faecalis (11.7%), E. hirae (8.3%), E. durans (3.3%), E. mundtii (1.7%) and E. thailandicus (1.7%). Most of the strains were found resistant to rifampin (51.67%) followed by ciprofloxacin (38.33%), nitrofurantoin (33.33%) and erythromycin (21.67%). All strains were found susceptible to ampicillin. Only E. faecium FYE4 and FYE60 strains displayed susceptibility to all antibiotics. Other strains showed different resistance patterns to antibiotics. E. faecalis was found more resistant to antibiotics than other species. Most of the strains (61.7%) displayed resistance from between two and eight antibiotics. The ermB, ermC, gyrA, tetM, tetL and vanA genes were detected in some strains. A lack of correlation between genotypic and phenotypic analysis for some strains was detected. The results of this study indicated that Sucuk manufactured without using a starter culture is a reservoir of multiple antibiotic resistant enterococci. Consequently, Sucuk is a potential reservoir for the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes from animals to humans.
Keywords: Enterococcus; PCR; antibiotic resistance; antibiotic resistance gene; sucuk.