**4. Materials and Methods**

#### *4.1. Bacterial Strains*

Twenty-two enterococci strains previously described [26,98,99] were evaluated in the present study. Briefly, the collection includes *Enterococcus* species isolated from fecal samples (cloacal/anal swabs or intestinal content) collected from 17 wild marine animals. These animals, including sea turtles (*n* = 3), seabirds (*n* = 8), and marine mammals (*n* = 6), were found along the North Coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, from Torres Beach (29◦21 32.2 S; 49◦44 10.3 W) to Dunas Altas Beach, Palmares do Sul (30◦23 58.75 S; 50◦17 24.73 W), between July 2012 and April 2014 (Table 1). The enterococci collection was stored frozen at −20 ◦C in skim milk supplemented with 20% glycerol, and cultures were routinely grown in brain heart infusion (BHI) at 37 ◦C for 18 h.
