NetF-producing Clostridium perfringens: Clonality and plasmid pathogenicity loci analysis.
Abstract: Clostridium perfringens is an important cause of foal necrotizing enteritis and canine acute hemorrhagic diarrhea. A major virulence determinant of the strains associated with these diseases appears to be a beta-sheet pore-forming toxin, NetF, encoded within a pathogenicity locus (NetF locus) on a large tcp-conjugative plasmid. Strains producing NetF also produce the putative toxin NetE, encoded within the same pathogenicity locus, as well as CPE enterotoxin and CPB2 on a second plasmid, and sometimes the putative toxin NetG within a pathogenicity locus (NetG locus) on another separate large conjugative plasmid. Previous genome sequences of two netF-positive C. perfringens showed that they both shared three similar plasmids, including the NetF/NetE and CPE/CPB2 toxins-encoding plasmids mentioned above and a putative bacteriocin-encoding plasmid. The main purpose of this study was to determine whether all NetF-producing strains share this common plasmid profile and whether their distinct NetF and CPE pathogenicity loci are conserved. To answer this question, 15 equine and 15 canine netF-positive isolates of C. perfringens were sequenced using Illumina Hiseq2000 technology. In addition, the clonal relationships among the NetF-producing strains were evaluated by core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST). The data obtained showed that all NetF-producing strains have a common plasmid profile and that the defined pathogenicity loci on the plasmids are conserved in all these strains. cgMLST analysis showed that the NetF-producing C. perfringens strains belong to two distinct clonal complexes. The pNetG plasmid was absent from isolates of one of the clonal complexes, and there were minor but consistent differences in the NetF/NetE and CPE/CPB2 plasmids between the two clonal complexes.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2017-01-03 PubMed ID: 28062388DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2016.12.028Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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The research investigates the genetic makeup and virulence factors of Clostridium perfringens, a bacterium responsible for serious intestinal diseases in animals, to understand if all strains producing the harmful toxin NetF share a common pathogenic profile.
Objectives and Methodology
- This comprehensive study aims to determine the uniformity or differences in the genetic structure of various NetF-producing strains of C. perfringens and whether the harmful pathogenic loci are preserved.
- The researchers analyzed 30 strains of C. perfringens, half isolated from horses and half from dogs, using Illumina Hiseq2000 – a sequencing technology capable of genotyping and identifying genetic variation in organisms.
- A comparative analysis of genetic structures was done using core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST), a molecular technique to identify the exact DNA sequence information of multiple loci in the bacterial genome. This procedure aids in examining the genetic associations among different bacterial strains.
Results and Findings
- The resultant data showed that all NetF-producing strains share a common pathogenic plasmid profile that carries the harmful genes responsible for producing the toxins NetF, NetE, CPE, and CPB2.
- The identified pathogenic loci on the plasmids are well-preserved among all strains studied.
- Importantly, the study found the NetF-producing C. perfringens strains to fall into two distinct clonal groups or complexes.
- The plasmid carrying a potential toxin (pNetG) was found to be absent in one of the two groups, thus indicating a difference in the genetic composition between the two clonal complexes.
- There were additional subtle yet steady variations in the NetF/NetE and CPE/CPB2 producing plasmids between the two groups.
Conclusions
- This study presents significant insight into the genetic variability and clonality among the NetF-producing strains of C. perfringens.
- The research enhances the understanding of the potential pathogenicity and virulence of the bacterium which might aid in fine-tuning treatment strategies against the infections caused by this bacterium in animals.
Cite This Article
APA
Mehdizadeh Gohari I, Kropinski AM, Weese SJ, Whitehead AE, Parreira VR, Boerlin P, Prescott JF.
(2017).
NetF-producing Clostridium perfringens: Clonality and plasmid pathogenicity loci analysis.
Infect Genet Evol, 49, 32-38.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2016.12.028 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Veterinary Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: prescott@uoguelph.ca.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Bacterial Toxins / genetics
- Canada / epidemiology
- Chromosome Mapping
- Clone Cells
- Clostridium Infections / epidemiology
- Clostridium Infections / microbiology
- Clostridium Infections / transmission
- Clostridium Infections / veterinary
- Clostridium perfringens / classification
- Clostridium perfringens / genetics
- Clostridium perfringens / isolation & purification
- Clostridium perfringens / pathogenicity
- DNA, Bacterial
- Diarrhea / epidemiology
- Diarrhea / microbiology
- Diarrhea / veterinary
- Dog Diseases / epidemiology
- Dog Diseases / microbiology
- Dog Diseases / transmission
- Dogs
- Genetic Loci
- Genome, Bacterial
- High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
- Horse Diseases / epidemiology
- Horse Diseases / microbiology
- Horse Diseases / transmission
- Horses
- Multilocus Sequence Typing
- Phylogeny
- Plasmids / chemistry
- Plasmids / metabolism
- Switzerland / epidemiology
- United States / epidemiology
Citations
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