Clostridium perfringens and Histotoxic Disease

Rood, Julian I.

doi:10.1007/0-387-30744-3_23

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…Surgical wounds, particularly those that affect the bowel, are also major causes of gas gangrene infections. Irrespective of its cause, injury leads to disruption of blood flow to the tissues and localized tissue ischemia, creating the conditions required for the germination of C. perfringens spores and the subsequent growth of vegetative cells and extracellular toxin production (5,163). The result is extensive tissue necrosis that is characterized by an absence of a leukocyte influx into the infection site (160,164).…”

Section: Diseases Involving Primarily Chromosomal Toxin Genesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

“…This bacterium also ranks among the most common and important pathogens of humans and livestock (1,3,4). C. perfringens causes histotoxic infections, including gas gangrene (clostridial myonecrosis), anaerobic cellulitis, and simple wound infections (3)(4)(5). It is also responsible for several human and animal diseases originating in the intestines; these illnesses typically manifest as enteritis or enterotoxemia, a condition where toxins produced in the intestines are absorbed into the circulation and then damage other internal organs such as the brain, lungs, or kidneys (3,6).…”

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Toxin Plasmids of Clostridium perfringens

Adams

Bannam

et al. 2013

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

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SUMMARY In both humans and animals, Clostridium perfringens is an important cause of histotoxic infections and diseases originating in the intestines, such as enteritis and enterotoxemia. The virulence of this Gram-positive, anaerobic bacterium is heavily dependent upon its prolific toxin-producing ability. Many of the ∼16 toxins produced by C. perfringens are encoded by large plasmids that range in size from ∼45 kb to ∼140 kb. These plasmid-encoded toxins are often closely associated with mobile elements. A C. perfringens strain can carry up to three different toxin plasmids, with a single plasmid carrying up to three distinct toxin genes. Molecular Koch's postulate analyses have established the importance of several plasmid-encoded toxins when C. perfringens disease strains cause enteritis or enterotoxemias. Many toxin plasmids are closely related, suggesting a common evolutionary origin. In particular, most toxin plasmids and some antibiotic resistance plasmids of C. perfringens share an ∼35-kb region containing a Tn 916 -related conjugation locus named tcp (transfer of clostridial plasmids). This tcp locus can mediate highly efficient conjugative transfer of these toxin or resistance plasmids. For example, conjugative transfer of a toxin plasmid from an infecting strain to C. perfringens normal intestinal flora strains may help to amplify and prolong an infection. Therefore, the presence of toxin genes on conjugative plasmids, particularly in association with insertion sequences that may mobilize these toxin genes, likely provides C. perfringens with considerable virulence plasticity and adaptability when it causes diseases originating in the gastrointestinal tract.

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Section: Diseases Involving Primarily Chromosomal Toxin Genesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Toxin Plasmids of Clostridium perfringens

Adams

Bannam

et al. 2013

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

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231

282

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“…Many species were originally assigned to this genus based on their being Gram-positive, anaerobic rods that are capable of endospore formation (Cato et al, 1986;Cato & Stackebrandt, 1989;Lawson et al, 1993;Finegold et al, 2002;Rood, 2006). However, these criteria led to the placement of numerous species in this genus, many of which were very distantly related to the type species of the genus, Clostridium butyricum (Johnson & Francis, 1975;Cato et al, 1986;Lawson et al, 1993;Stackebrandt et al, 1999;Wiegel et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anaerobacter, Eubacterium and Sarcina) (Finegold et al, 2002;Wiegel et al, 2006;Rood, 2006). Moreover, this cluster is presently defined only in phylogenetic terms, and no biochemical, molecular or phenotypic characteristic is known that is unique to members of this cluster.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenomic analyses of clostridia and identification of novel protein signatures that are specific to the genus Clostridium sensu stricto (cluster I)

Gupta

Gao

2009

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATIC AND EVOLUTIONARY MICROBIOLO

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The species of Clostridium comprise a very heterogeneous assemblage of bacteria that do not form a phylogenetically coherent group. It has been proposed previously that only a subset of the species of Clostridium that form a distinct cluster in the 16S rRNA tree (cluster I) should be regarded as the true representatives of the genus Clostridium (i.e. Clostridium sensu stricto). However, this cluster is presently defined only in phylogenetic terms, and no biochemical, molecular or phenotypic characteristic is known that is unique to species from this cluster. We report here phylogenomic and comparative analyses based on sequenced clostridial genomes in an attempt to bridge this gap and to clarify the evolutionary relationships among species of clostridia. In phylogenetic trees for species of clostridia based on concatenated sequences for 37 highly conserved proteins, the species of Clostridium cluster I formed a strongly supported clade that was separated from all other clostridia by a long branch. Several other Clostridium species that are not part of this cluster grouped reliably with other species of clostridia in a number of wellresolved clades. Our comparative genomic analyses have identified three conserved indels in three highly conserved proteins (a 4 aa insert in DNA gyrase A, a 1 aa deletion in ATP synthase beta subunit and a 1 aa insert in ribosomal protein S2) that are unique to the species of Clostridium cluster I and are not found in any other bacteria. BLASTP searches on various proteins in the genomes of Clostridium tetani E88 and Clostridium perfringens SM101 have also identified more than 10 proteins that are found uniquely in the cluster I species. These results provide evidence that the species of Clostridium cluster I not only are phylogenetically distinct but also share many unique molecular characteristics. These newly identified molecular markers provide useful tools to define and circumscribe the genus Clostridium sensu stricto in more definitive terms. We have also identified a 7-9 aa conserved insert in the enzyme phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase that is uniquely found in the Clostridium thermocellum, Thermoanaerobacter pseudethanolicus, Thermoanaerobacter tengcogensis and Caldicellulosiruptor saccharolyticus homologues, and is absent from all other bacteria. These species form a well-defined clade in the phylogenetic trees and this indel provides a potential molecular marker for this clostridial cluster. INTRODUCTIONThe species belonging to the genus Clostridium comprise a heterogeneous assemblage that does not form a monophyletic grouping in phylogenetic trees based on different gene/protein sequences (Cato et al., 1986;Lawson et al., 1993;Stackebrandt et al., 1999;Finegold et al., 2002;Wiegel et al., 2006). Many species were originally assigned to this genus based on their being Gram-positive, anaerobic rods that are capable of endospore formation (Cato et al., 1986;Cato & Stackebrandt, 1989;Lawson et al., 1993;Finegold et al., 2002;Rood, 2006). However, these criteria led to the place...

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