Previous Article | Next Article 
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2001, p. 883-888, Vol. 39, No. 3
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.3.883-888.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Genotyping of Enterotoxigenic Clostridium
perfringens Fecal Isolates Associated with Antibiotic-Associated
Diarrhea and Food Poisoning in North America
Shauna G.
Sparks,1
Robert J.
Carman,2
Mahfuzur R.
Sarker,1,
and
Bruce A.
McClane1,*
Department of Molecular Genetics and
Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261,1 and
TechLab, Inc., Corporate Research Center, Blacksburg, Virginia
240602
Received 29 September 2000/Returned for modification 28 November
2000/Accepted 8 December 2000
Clostridium perfringens type A isolates producing
enterotoxin (CPE) are an important cause of food poisoning and
non-food-borne human gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, including
antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). Recent studies suggest that
C. perfringens type A food poisoning is caused by C. perfringens isolates carrying a chromosomal cpe gene,
while CPE-associated non-food-borne GI diseases, such as AAD, are
caused by plasmid cpe isolates. Those putative
relationships, obtained predominantly with European isolates, were
tested in the current study by examining 34 cpe-positive, C. perfringens fecal isolates from North American cases of
food poisoning or AAD. These North American disease isolates were all classified as type A using a multiplex PCR assay. Furthermore, restriction fragment length polymorphism and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis genotyping analyses showed the North American AAD
isolates included in this collection all have a plasmid cpe gene, but the North American food poisoning isolates all carry a
chromosomal cpe gene. Western blotting demonstrated CPE
expression by nearly all of these disease isolates, confirming their
virulence potential. These findings with North American isolates
provide important new evidence that, regardless of geographic origin or date of isolation, plasmid cpe isolates cause most
CPE-associated AAD cases and chromosomal cpe isolates cause
most C. perfringens type A food poisoning cases. These
findings hold importance for the development of assays for
distinguishing cases of CPE-associated food-borne and non-food-borne
human GI illnesses and also identify potential epidemiologic tools for
determining the reservoirs for these illnesses.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: E1240 BST,
Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Phone: (412)
648-9022. Fax: (412) 624-1401. E-mail: bamcc{at}pitt.edu.

Present address: Department of Microbiology, Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR
97331.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2001, p. 883-888, Vol. 39, No. 3
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.3.883-888.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Paredes-Sabja, D., Udompijitkul, P., Sarker, M. R.
(2009). Inorganic Phosphate and Sodium Ions Are Cogerminants for Spores of Clostridium perfringens Type A Food Poisoning-Related Isolates. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
75: 6299-6305
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Miki, Y., Miyamoto, K., Kaneko-Hirano, I., Fujiuchi, K., Akimoto, S.
(2008). Prevalence and Characterization of Enterotoxin Gene-Carrying Clostridium perfringens Isolates from Retail Meat Products in Japan. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
74: 5366-5372
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Rafii, F., Park, M., Bryant, A. E., Johnson, S. J., Wagner, R. D.
(2008). Enhanced Production of Phospholipase C and Perfringolysin O (Alpha and Theta Toxins) in a Gatifloxacin-Resistant Strain of Clostridium perfringens. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.
52: 895-900
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Camacho, N., Espinoza, C., Rodriguez, C., Rodriguez, E.
(2008). Isolates of Clostridium perfringens recovered from Costa Rican patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhoea are mostly enterotoxin-negative and susceptible to first-choice antimicrobials. J Med Microbiol
57: 343-347
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Mendez, M., Huang, I-H., Ohtani, K., Grau, R., Shimizu, T., Sarker, M. R.
(2008). Carbon Catabolite Repression of Type IV Pilus-Dependent Gliding Motility in the Anaerobic Pathogen Clostridium perfringens. J. Bacteriol.
190: 48-60
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Lahti, P., Heikinheimo, A., Johansson, T., Korkeala, H.
(2008). Clostridium perfringens Type A Strains Carrying a Plasmid-Borne Enterotoxin Gene (Genotype IS1151-cpe or IS1470-like-cpe) as a Common Cause of Food Poisoning. J. Clin. Microbiol.
46: 371-373
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Li, J., McClane, B. A.
(2006). Comparative Effects of Osmotic, Sodium Nitrite-Induced, and pH-Induced Stress on Growth and Survival of Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates Carrying Chromosomal or Plasmid-Borne Enterotoxin Genes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
72: 7620-7625
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Siragusa, G. R., Danyluk, M. D., Hiett, K. L., Wise, M. G., Craven, S. E.
(2006). Molecular Subtyping of Poultry-Associated Type A Clostridium perfringens Isolates by Repetitive-Element PCR.. J. Clin. Microbiol.
44: 1065-1073
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Miyamoto, K., Fisher, D. J., Li, J., Sayeed, S., Akimoto, S., McClane, B. A.
(2006). Complete Sequencing and Diversity Analysis of the Enterotoxin-Encoding Plasmids in Clostridium perfringens Type A Non-Food-Borne Human Gastrointestinal Disease Isolates. J. Bacteriol.
188: 1585-1598
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Harrison, B., Raju, D., Garmory, H. S., Brett, M. M., Titball, R. W., Sarker, M. R.
(2005). Molecular Characterization of Clostridium perfringens Isolates from Humans with Sporadic Diarrhea: Evidence for Transcriptional Regulation of the Beta2-Toxin-Encoding Gene. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
71: 8362-8370
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Chen, Y., McClane, B. A., Fisher, D. J., Rood, J. I., Gupta, P.
(2005). Construction of an Alpha Toxin Gene Knockout Mutant of Clostridium perfringens Type A by Use of a Mobile Group II Intron. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
71: 7542-7547
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Raju, D., Sarker, M. R.
(2005). Comparison of the Levels of Heat Resistance of Wild-Type, cpe Knockout, and cpe Plasmid-Cured Clostridium perfringens Type A Strains. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
71: 7618-7620
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Waters, M., Raju, D., Garmory, H. S., Popoff, M. R., Sarker, M. R.
(2005). Regulated Expression of the Beta2-Toxin Gene (cpb2) in Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates from Horses with Gastrointestinal Diseases. J. Clin. Microbiol.
43: 4002-4009
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Varga, J., Stirewalt, V. L., Melville, S. B.
(2004). The CcpA Protein Is Necessary for Efficient Sporulation and Enterotoxin Gene (cpe) Regulation in Clostridium perfringens. J. Bacteriol.
186: 5221-5229
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Wen, Q., McClane, B. A.
(2004). Detection of Enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates in American Retail Foods. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
70: 2685-2691
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Miyamoto, K., Wen, Q., McClane, B. A.
(2004). Multiplex PCR Genotyping Assay That Distinguishes between Isolates of Clostridium perfringens Type A Carrying a Chromosomal Enterotoxin Gene (cpe) Locus, a Plasmid cpe Locus with an IS1470-Like Sequence, or a Plasmid cpe Locus with an IS1151 Sequence. J. Clin. Microbiol.
42: 1552-1558
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Waters, M., Savoie, A., Garmory, H. S., Bueschel, D., Popoff, M. R., Songer, J. G., Titball, R. W., McClane, B. A., Sarker, M. R.
(2003). Genotyping and Phenotyping of Beta2-Toxigenic Clostridium perfringens Fecal Isolates Associated with Gastrointestinal Diseases in Piglets. J. Clin. Microbiol.
41: 3584-3591
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Wen, Q., Miyamoto, K., McClane, B. A.
(2003). Development of a Duplex PCR Genotyping Assay for Distinguishing Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates Carrying Chromosomal Enterotoxin (cpe) Genes from Those Carrying Plasmid-Borne Enterotoxin (cpe) Genes. J. Clin. Microbiol.
41: 1494-1498
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Lin, Y.-T., Labbe, R.
(2003). Enterotoxigenicity and Genetic Relatedness of Clostridium perfringens Isolates from Retail Foods in the United States. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
69: 1642-1646
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Berkes, J, Viswanathan, V K, Savkovic, S D, Hecht, G
(2003). Intestinal epithelial responses to enteric pathogens: effects on the tight junction barrier, ion transport, and inflammation. Gut
52: 439-451
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Lukinmaa, S., Takkunen, E., Siitonen, A.
(2002). Molecular Epidemiology of Clostridium perfringens Related to Food-Borne Outbreaks of Disease in Finland from 1984 to 1999. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
68: 3744-3749
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Miyamoto, K., Chakrabarti, G., Morino, Y., McClane, B. A.
(2002). Organization of the Plasmid cpe Locus in Clostridium perfringens Type A Isolates. Infect. Immun.
70: 4261-4272
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
-
Bartlett, J. G.
(2002). Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea. NEJM
346: 334-339
[Full Text]
-
Brynestad, S., Sarker, M. R., McClane, B. A., Granum, P. E., Rood, J. I.
(2001). Enterotoxin Plasmid from Clostridium perfringens Is Conjugative. Infect. Immun.
69: 3483-3487
[Abstract]
[Full Text]