Identification of toxigenic Clostridium difficile strains using a toxin B gene-specific oligonucleotide probe.
We describe the use of a new specific synthetic oligonucleotide probe, deduced from the sequence of the gene for Clostridium difficile toxin B, to identify toxigenic strains of C. difficile. This probe does not hybridize to the DNA of non-toxigenic strains of C. difficile nor to DNA isolated from different Clostridium species, including C. sordellii. None of the enteric pathogenic bacteria tested were seen to hybridize with the probe. A preliminary study of direct probing of faecal specimens indicates a potential for the use of this DNA probe in the clinical laboratory for the rapid identification of toxigenic strains of C. difficile.
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Institut de Bactériologie de la Faculté de Médecine, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France.
Riot
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D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D003013:Clostridium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004756:Enterobacteriaceae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile