Enterococcal aggregation substance and binding substance are not major contributors to urinary tract colonization by Enterococcus faecalis in a mouse model of ascending unobstructed urinary tract infection.

Isogenic Enterococcus faecalis strains that differ in their expression of aggregation substance (AS) and its cognate receptor, enterococcal binding substance (EBS), were compared for urovirulence in mice. Strain OG1SSp/pCF500 (inducible AS(+), constitutive EBS(+)) failed to outcompete isogenic derivative INY3000 (AS(-) EBS(-)) in the urine, bladders, or kidneys of mice harvested at 48 h postinoculation. Neither mouse nor human urine induced AS expression by OG1SSp/pCF500. Recombinant strain OG1SSp/pINY1801 (constitutive AS(+), EBS(+)) exhibited plasmid segregation that was as extensive in vivo as in vitro. These data suggest that AS and EBS do not contribute to upper or lower urinary tract colonization by E. faecalis and that growth in urine does not induce AS expression by strains carrying plasmids in the pCF10 family.