Figure 1.

Timeline of important events in the history of bacteriocins. Enterocins specifically described in clinical enterococci isolates so far are included as blue lines: dark blue indicates enterocins produced by E. faecium and light blue by E. faecalis; the years indicated correspond to the first mention of a given enterocin, either the year of isolation or, whenever unknown, the year of bacteriocin description/publication (marked with * in the latter case). The year corresponding to the appearance of the most clinically relevant antibiotic resistance in enterococci appear as red lines. Abbreviations: LAB, lactic acid bacteria; VRE, vancomycin-resistant enterococci; Bac, bacteriocin; Ent, enterocin.