This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Billington, S. J.
Right arrow Articles by McClane, B. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Billington, S. J.
Right arrow Articles by McClane, B. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Infection and Immunity, September 1998, p. 4531-4536, Vol. 66, No. 9
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Clostridium perfringens Type E Animal Enteritis Isolates with Highly Conserved, Silent Enterotoxin Gene Sequences

Stephen J. Billington,1 Eva U. Wieckowski,2 Mahfuzur R. Sarker,2 Dawn Bueschel,1 J. Glenn Songer,1 and Bruce A. McClane2,*

Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721,1 and Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 152612

Received 9 March 1998/Returned for modification 20 April 1998/Accepted 26 June 1998

Several Clostridium perfringens genotype E isolates, all associated with hemorrhagic enteritis of neonatal calves, were identified by multiplex PCR. These genotype E isolates were demonstrated to express alpha  and iota  toxins, but, despite carrying sequences for the gene (cpe) encoding C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE), were unable to express CPE. These silent cpe sequences were shown to be highly conserved among type E isolates. However, relative to the functional cpe gene of type A isolates, these silent type E cpe sequences were found to contain nine nonsense and two frameshift mutations and to lack the initiation codon, promoters, and ribosome binding site. The type E animal enteritis isolates carrying these silent cpe sequences do not appear to be clonally related, and their silent type E cpe sequences are always located, near the iota  toxin genes, on episomal DNA. These findings suggest that the highly conserved, silent cpe sequences present in most or all type E isolates may have resulted from the recent horizontal transfer of an episome, which also carries iota  toxin genes, to several different type A C. perfringens isolates.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: E1240 Biomedical Science Tower, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Phone: (412) 648-9022. Fax: (412) 624-1401. E-mail: bamcc{at}pop.pitt.edu.

Infection and Immunity, September 1998, p. 4531-4536, Vol. 66, No. 9
0019-9567/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Miyamoto, K., Li, J., Sayeed, S., Akimoto, S., McClane, B. A. (2008). Sequencing and Diversity Analyses Reveal Extensive Similarities between Some Epsilon-Toxin-Encoding Plasmids and the pCPF5603 Clostridium perfringens Enterotoxin Plasmid. J. Bacteriol. 190: 7178-7188 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Uzal, F. A., Songer, J. G. (2008). Diagnosis of Clostridium perfringens intestinal infections in sheep and goats. jvdi 20: 253-265 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Camacho, N., Espinoza, C., Rodriguez, C., Rodriguez, E. (2008). Isolates of Clostridium perfringens recovered from Costa Rican patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhoea are mostly enterotoxin-negative and susceptible to first-choice antimicrobials. J Med Microbiol 57: 343-347 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Li, J., Sayeed, S., McClane, B. A. (2007). Prevalence of Enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens Isolates in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) Area Soils and Home Kitchens. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 7218-7224 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sayeed, S., Li, J., McClane, B. A. (2007). Virulence Plasmid Diversity in Clostridium perfringens Type D Isolates. Infect. Immun. 75: 2391-2398 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Li, J., Miyamoto, K., McClane, B. A. (2007). Comparison of Virulence Plasmids among Clostridium perfringens Type E Isolates. Infect. Immun. 75: 1811-1819 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Miyamoto, K., Fisher, D. J., Li, J., Sayeed, S., Akimoto, S., McClane, B. A. (2006). Complete Sequencing and Diversity Analysis of the Enterotoxin-Encoding Plasmids in Clostridium perfringens Type A Non-Food-Borne Human Gastrointestinal Disease Isolates. J. Bacteriol. 188: 1585-1598 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sayeed, S., Fernandez-Miyakawa, M. E., Fisher, D. J., Adams, V., Poon, R., Rood, J. I., Uzal, F. A., McClane, B. A. (2005). Epsilon-Toxin Is Required for Most Clostridium perfringens Type D Vegetative Culture Supernatants To Cause Lethality in the Mouse Intravenous Injection Model. Infect. Immun. 73: 7413-7421 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Barth, H., Aktories, K., Popoff, M. R., Stiles, B. G. (2004). Binary Bacterial Toxins: Biochemistry, Biology, and Applications of Common Clostridium and Bacillus Proteins. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68: 373-402 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jost, B. H., Trinh, H. T., Songer, J. G., Billington, S. J. (2004). A Second Tylosin Resistance Determinant, Erm B, in Arcanobacterium pyogenes. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 48: 721-727 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lin, Y.-T., Labbe, R. (2003). Enterotoxigenicity and Genetic Relatedness of Clostridium perfringens Isolates from Retail Foods in the United States. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69: 1642-1646 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Miyamoto, K., Chakrabarti, G., Morino, Y., McClane, B. A. (2002). Organization of the Plasmid cpe Locus in Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates. Infect. Immun. 70: 4261-4272 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Brynestad, S., Sarker, M. R., McClane, B. A., Granum, P. E., Rood, J. I. (2001). Enterotoxin Plasmid from Clostridium perfringens Is Conjugative. Infect. Immun. 69: 3483-3487 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sparks, S. G., Carman, R. J., Sarker, M. R., McClane, B. A. (2001). Genotyping of Enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens Fecal Isolates Associated with Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea and Food Poisoning in North America. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 883-888 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sarker, M. R., Shivers, R. P., Sparks, S. G., Juneja, V. K., McClane, B. A. (2000). Comparative Experiments To Examine the Effects of Heating on Vegetative Cells and Spores of Clostridium perfringens Isolates Carrying Plasmid Genes versus Chromosomal Enterotoxin Genes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66: 3234-3240 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»