title: Acid phosphatase test proves superior to standard phenotypic identification procedure for Clostridium perfringens strains isolated from water.
abstract: Clostridium perfringens is used as an indicator for persistent faecal pollution as well as to monitor the efficacy of water treatment processes. For these purposes, differentiation between C. perfringens and other Clostridia is essential and is routinely carried out by phenotypic standard tests as proposed in the ISO/CD 6461-2:2002 (ISO_LGMN: lactose fermentation, gelatine liquidation, motility and nitrate reduction). Because the ISO_LGMN procedure is time consuming and labour intensive, the acid phosphatase test was investigated as a possible and much more rapid alternative method for confirmation. The aim of our study was to evaluate and compare confirmation results obtained by these two phenotypic methods using genotypically identified strains, what to our knowledge has not been accomplished before. For this purpose, a species specific PCR method was selected based on the results received for type strains and genotypically characterised environmental strains. For the comparative investigation type strains as well as presumptive C. perfringens isolates from water and faeces samples were used. The acid phosphatase test revealed higher percentage (92%) of correctly identified environmental strains (n=127) than the ISO_LGMN procedure (83%) and proved to be a sensitive and reliable confirmation method.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemical Engineering, Research Group Environmental Microbiology and Molecular Ecology, Vienna University of Technology, Gumpendorferstraße 1A/166-5-2, A-1060 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ryzinska-Paier
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Haider
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knetsch
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frick
authors.forename: A K T
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kirschner
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Farnleitner
mesh_terms: D000135:Acid Phosphatase / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D057075:Enzyme Assays / Q000379:methods*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005738:Gas Gangrene / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D000135:Acid Phosphatase