Bacteriocin distribution patterns in Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus lactis : bioinformatic analysis using a tailored genomics framework.

This work significantly expands the knowledge on the understudied bacteriocin diversity in opportunistic enterococci, revealing their contribution in the adaptation to different environments. It underscores the importance of placing increased emphasis on genetic platforms carrying bacteriocins as well as on cryptic plasmids that often exclusively harbor bacteriocins since bacteriocin production can significantly contribute to plasmid maintenance, potentially facilitating their stable transmission across generations. Further characterization of strain-level bacteriocin landscapes could inform strategies to combat high-risk clones. Overall, these insights provide a framework for unraveling the therapeutic and biotechnological potential of bacteriocins.