ISSN:
1365-2958
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Clostridium perfringens type A isolates carrying an enterotoxin (cpe) gene are an important cause of human gastrointestinal diseases, including food poisoning, antibiotic-associated diarrhoea (AAD) and sporadic diarrhoea (SD). Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the current study determined that the cpb2 gene encoding the recently discovered beta2 toxin is present in 〈15% of food poisoning isolates, which typically carry a chromosomal cpe gene. However, 〉75% of AAD/SD isolates, which usually carry a plasmid cpe gene, tested cpb2+ by PCR. Western blot analysis demonstrated that 〉97% of those cpb2+/cpe+ AAD/SD isolates can produce CPB2. Additional PCR analyses, sequencing studies and pulsed field gel electrophoresis experiments determined that AAD/SD isolates carry cpb2 and cpe on the same plasmid when IS1151 sequences are present downstream of cpe, but cpb2 and cpe are located on different plasmids in AAD/SD isolates where IS1470-like sequences are present downstream of cpe. Those analyses also demonstrated that two different CPB2 variants (named CPB2h1 or CPB2h2) can be produced by AAD/SD isolates, dependent on whether IS1470-like or IS1151 sequences are present downstream of their cpe gene. CPB2h1 is ∼10-fold more cytotoxic for CaCo-2 cells than is CPB2h2. Collectively, these results suggest that CPB2 could be an accessory toxin in C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE)-associated AAD/SD.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04573.x
Permalink