Genomics of Clostridium Botulinum and Clostridium Perfringens



Clostridium perfringens

This organism is a causative agent of a wide spectrum of necrotic enterotoxicoses. In humans it is responsible for such diseases as gas gangrene (clostridial myonecrosis), food poisoning, necrotizing enterocolitis of infants and enteritis necroticans (pigbel). It also causes such animal diseases as lamb dysentery, ovine enterotoxemia (struck), pulpy kidney disease in lambs and other enterotoxemias in lambs and calves.

The bacterium is one of the most widely distributed pathogens in nature. It is commonly found in the environment (soil, sewage) and in the animal and human gastrointestinal tract as a member of the normal microflora. It is a fast growing (generation time 8-10 min) anaerobic flesh-eater. Active fermentative growth is accompanied by profuse generation of molecular hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Unlike most other clostridia, C. perfringens is non-motile. It is also oxygen tolerant which makes it an easy object to work with in laboratories. Systems for genetic manipulation of C. perfringens have been developed and the species became a model organism in clostridial genetic studies.

Known isolates belong to five distinct types (A, B, C, D, and E) that are distinguished based on the specific extracellular toxins they produce. Each of the toxins is responsible for a specific disease syndrome. Type A strains that cause gas gangrene produce toxin alpha (phospholypase C), theta (hemolysin), kappa (collagenase), mu (hyaluronidase), nu (DNAse) and neuraminidase which are all the enzymatic factors aiding the bacterium in invading and destruction of the host tissues.


Jonathan Badger

Ian Paulsen
Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University

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