Evidence that the enterotoxin gene can be episomal in Clostridium perfringens isolates associated with non-food-borne human gastrointestinal diseases.
Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) is responsible for the diarrheal and cramping symptoms of human C. perfringens type A food poisoning. CPE-producing C. perfringens isolates have also recently been associated with several non-food-borne human gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses, including antibiotic-associated diarrhea and sporadic diarrhea. The current study has used restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analyses to compare the genotypes of 43 cpe-positive C. perfringens isolates obtained from diverse sources. All North American and European food-poisoning isolates examined in this study were found to carry a chromosomal cpe, while all non-food-borne human GI disease isolates characterized in this study were determined to carry their cpe on an episome. Collectively, these results provide the first evidence that distinct subpopulations of cpe-positive C. perfringens isolates may be responsible for C. perfringens type A food poisoning versus CPE-associated non-food-borne human GI diseases. If these putative associations are confirmed in additional surveys, cpe RFLP and PFGE genotyping assays may facilitate the differential diagnosis of food-borne versus non-food-borne CPE-associated human GI illnesses and may also be useful epidemiologic tools for identifying reservoirs or transmission mechanisms for the subpopulations of cpe-positive isolates specifically responsible for CPE-associated food-borne versus non-food-borne human GI diseases.
Collie
R E
RE
Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
McClane
B A
BA
D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010957:Plasmids; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
D004768:Enterotoxins; C035598:enterotoxin, Clostridium