title: Carriage of Clostridium perfringens by benthic crabs in a sewage-polluted estuary.
abstract: The Estuary of Bahía Blanca (EBB), Argentina, is an important wetland under intense sewage pollution. We investigated the occurrence of Clostridium perfringens (CP) in populations of two benthic crabs (Neohelice granulata and Cyrtograpsus angulatus) and in sediment from the EBB. CP was found in 49.1% of the crabs and all of the isolates were identified as type A. The alpha (cpa) and enterotoxin (cpe) encoding genes were identified. Genetic analyses identified 13 novel sequence types, and found no clustering among isolates, suggesting that CP is not part of the crabs' commensal flora. CP carriage was 51 times more likely in crabs from the area nearest sewage outfalls compared with crabs from a reference site. Our in vitro experiments suggest that the carriage of CP in crabs is transient. The use of these benthic crabs as monitoring organisms of sewage pollution in coastal habitats is proposed.
authors.affiliation: GEKKO, Grupo de Estudios en Conservación y Manejo, Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional del Sur, San Juan 670, 8000 Bahía Blanca, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rivadavia 1917, 1033 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Electronic address: lucianolasala@yahoo.com.ar.
authors.forename: Luciano F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: La Sala
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Patobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Calle Las Cabañas y Los Reseros s/n, Casilla de Correo 25, 1712 Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rivadavia 1917, 1033 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Leandro M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Redondo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Patobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Calle Las Cabañas y Los Reseros s/n, Casilla de Correo 25, 1712 Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rivadavia 1917, 1033 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Díaz Carrasco
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Patobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Calle Las Cabañas y Los Reseros s/n, Casilla de Correo 25, 1712 Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ana María
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pereyra
authors.affiliation: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rivadavia 1917, 1033 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Instituto de Biotecnología, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Calle Las Cabañas y Los Reseros s/n, Casilla de Correo 25, 1712 Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farber
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jost
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Patobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Calle Las Cabañas y Los Reseros s/n, Casilla de Correo 25, 1712 Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Rivadavia 1917, 1033 Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Mariano E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Fernández-Miyakawa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001118:Argentina; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D003386:Brachyura / Q000382:microbiology*; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003016:Clostridium perfringens / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017753:Ecosystem; D063366:Estuaries; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*; D010738:Type C Phospholipases / Q000235:genetics; D014876:Water Pollution
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D012722:Sewage; D010738:Type C Phospholipases; C040649:alpha toxin, Clostridium perfringens
keywords: Clostridium perfringens; Crabs; Indicator bacteria; Monitoring organisms; Pollution; Sewage