Taxonomic identity of type E botulinum toxin-producing Clostridium butyricum strains by sequencing of a short 16S rDNA region.
Several micro-organisms capable of producing botulinum neurotoxin type E, though phenotypically similar to Clostridium butyricum (a normally non-neurotoxigenic organism), have recently been isolated in Italy and China. Some of these micro-organisms had been implicated in food-borne botulism, a serious neuroparalytic disease. The taxonomic identity of the type E botulinum toxin-producing strains is confirmed here, through sequencing of a genus- and species-specific segment of the 16S rRNA gene. Confirmation leads to the conclusion that neurotoxigenic C. butyricum must be regarded as an emergent food-borne pathogen.
National Reference Centre of Botulism, Food Laboratory, Istituto Superiore della Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy.
Manoocheher
M
Pourshaban
Giovanna
G
Franciosa
Lucia
L
Fenicia
Paolo
P
Aureli
D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001483:Base Sequence; D001905:Botulinum Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D003013:Clostridium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D001905:Botulinum Toxins; C096326:botulinum toxin type E