Molecular Characterization of Clostridium perfringens Strains Isolated in Italy

Abstract

Clostridium (C.) perfringens is the causative agent of several diseases and enteric infections in animals and humans. The pathogenicity of the bacterium is largely mediated by the production of a wide range of toxins. Individual C. perfringens strains produce only subsets of this toxin repertoire, which permits the classification in seven toxinotypes (A–G). In addition, a variety of minor toxins further characterizes the single strains. The aim of this work was to evaluate, using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assays, the diversity of 632 C. perfringens strains isolated in Italy over 15 years. The genotyped strains were analyzed to determine the presence of major and minor toxins (cpe, consensus, and atypical cpb2), their geographical origins, and the source of isolation (animal species or food). Our study shows that toxinotype A had the greatest representation (93%) and correlated mainly with consensus cpb2 in a variety of animal species, as well as with atypical cpb2 in the five food samples. Type D, associated with cpe and atypical cpb2 minor toxins, was identified in 3% of the cases, and type F was identified in 2.5%. Seven type C isolates (1.1%) were detected in cattle, whereas the only type B atypical cpb2 isolated in Italy was detected in a goat, and one type E cpe+atypical cpb2 was detected in a sheep. Type G was not detected.

Occurrence and Toxicogenetic Profiling of Clostridium perfringens in Buffalo and Cattle: An Update from Pakistan

“…These results are in some agreement with Forti et al (2020) [ 31 ], who examined 632 C. perfrignens isolates in Italy. Through PCR, it was observed that 93% of the total strains exhibited toxinotype A, type D was found in 3% isolates, type F was observed in 2.5%, and type B and type E were found much less.…”

Innovative and Highly Sensitive Detection of Clostridium perfringens Enterotoxin Based on Receptor Interaction and Monoclonal Antibodies

“…As the receptor binding domain of the mentioned CPE variant comprises only one amino acid exchange, namely S313A, which does not contribute to receptor binding [ 15 , 38 , 64 ], we assume the interaction of claudin-4 with this variant to be as strong as with the prevalent CPE. Based on CPE’s low structural diversity described so far, the rare occurrence of type E strains in outbreak events [ 65 , 66 ], and our results demonstrating 100% congruence in detecting CPE from cpe -positive C. perfringens strains isolated mainly from outbreaks in Germany, as well as the potential to detect CPE from feces extracts, we strongly believe that our assays provide reliable detection of clinically relevant samples.…”

Proteome-Wide Mapping and Reverse Vaccinology Approaches to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Clostridium perfringens

“…C. Perfringens, a widely dispersed, Gram-positive, rapidly growing and opportunistic bacterium has become one of the most common bacteria that causes various enteric diseases in humans and animals, including enteric and histotoxic infections, non-food diarrhea, enterocolitis, and food poisoning [1,65]. Moreover, it causes gas gangrene in animals and humans [66].…”