Clostridium. This genus comprises about 150 metabolically diverse species of anaerobes that are ubiquitous in virtually all anoxic habitats where organic compounds are present, including soils, aquatic sediments and the intestinal tracts of animals and humans. Characteristic of clostridia is the shape of their cells that resembles a drumstick
More...or spindle ("kloster" is Greek for "spindle"). This shape is attributed to the presence of endospores that develop under conditions unfavorable for vegetative growth and distend single cells terminally or sub-terminally. The endospores of many species are extremely sturdy and survive extended boiling in water and exposure to air. Spores germinate under conditions favorable for vegetative growth, such as anaerobiosis and presence of organic substrates. From the evolutionary perspective, clostridia are considered to be the most ancient bacteria. It is believed that present day Mollicutes (Eubacteria) have evolved regressively (i.e., by genome reduction) from gram-positive clostridia-like ancestors with a low GC content in DNA. Several species of clostridia (e.g., C. perfringens, C. botulinum, C. tetani) are known opportunistic toxin-producing pathogens in animals and humans. Some species are capable of producing organic solvents (acetone, ethanol, etc,), molecular hydrogen and other useful compounds. There are also species that can fix molecular nitrogen and thus are important participants in biological turnaround of nitrogen compounds in nature. 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. All types produce the alpha toxin (phospholipase C). Type A strains that cause gas gangrene produce alpha toxin, 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. Type C strains produce alpha toxin, beta toxin and prefringolysin enteritis. In addition to alpha toxin, Type B strains produce beta toxin, types B and D produce the pore forming epsilon toxin and type E strains produce iota toxin. Less...- Toxigenic Clostridium perfringens isolated from at-risk pediatric inflammatory bowel disease patients. Kuo J, et al. J Crohns Colitis 2024 Jan 24
- Epsilon toxin-producing Clostridium perfringens colonize the multiple sclerosis gut microbiome overcoming CNS immune privilege. Ma Y, et al. J Clin Invest 2023 May 1
- Intra-species diversity of Clostridium perfringens: A diverse genetic repertoire reveals its pathogenic potential. Camargo A, et al. Front Microbiol 2022
- Clostridium perfringens associated with dairy farm systems show diverse genotypes. Santos RAND, et al. Int J Food Microbiol 2022 Dec 2
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- A catalog of tens of thousands of viruses from human metagenomes reveals hidden associations with chronic diseases. Tisza MJ, et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 Jun 8
- MGnify: the microbiome analysis resource in 2020. Mitchell AL, et al. Nucleic Acids Res 2020 Jan 8
- An Integrated Metagenome Catalog Reveals New Insights into the Murine Gut Microbiome. Lesker TR, et al. Cell Rep 2020 Mar 3
- Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Clostridium perfringens in chickens and pigs from Beijing and Shanxi, China. Li J, et al. Vet Microbiol 2020 Nov 24
- FDA-ARGOS is a database with public quality-controlled reference genomes for diagnostic use and regulatory science. Sichtig H, et al. Nat Commun 2019 Jul 25
- Genomic Analysis of Clostridium perfringens BEC/CPILE-Positive, Toxinotype D and E Strains Isolated from Healthy Children. Kiu R, et al. Toxins (Basel) 2019 Sep 19
- Phylogenomic analysis of gastroenteritis-associated Clostridium perfringens in England and Wales over a 7-year period indicates distribution of clonal toxigenic strains in multiple outbreaks and extensive involvement of enterotoxin-encoding (CPE) plasmids. Kiu R, et al. Microb Genom 2019 Oct
- Necrotizing enterocolitis is preceded by increased gut bacterial replication, Klebsiella, and fimbriae-encoding bacteria. Olm MR, et al. Sci Adv 2019 Dec
- Whole genome analysis reveals the diversity and evolutionary relationships between necrotic enteritis-causing strains of Clostridium perfringens. Lacey JA, et al. BMC Genomics 2018 May 22
- Whole genome sequencing and function prediction of 133 gut anaerobes isolated from chicken caecum in pure cultures. Medvecky M, et al. BMC Genomics 2018 Jul 31
- NetF-producing Clostridium perfringens: Clonality and plasmid pathogenicity loci analysis. Mehdizadeh Gohari I, et al. Infect Genet Evol 2017 Apr
- Plasmid Characterization and Chromosome Analysis of Two netF+ Clostridium perfringens Isolates Associated with Foal and Canine Necrotizing Enteritis. Mehdizadeh Gohari I, et al. PLoS One 2016
- Culturing of 'unculturable' human microbiota reveals novel taxa and extensive sporulation. Browne HP, et al. Nature 2016 May 26
- Complete Genome Sequence of Coriobacteriaceae Strain 68-1-3, a Novel Mucus-Degrading Isolate from the Swine Intestinal Tract. Looft T, et al. Genome Announc 2015 Oct 8
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Reference genome: -
Clostridium perfringens ASM2013877v1
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