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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1978

[Necrotizing enteritis in suckling pigs (Clostridium perfringens type C enterotoxemia). II. Toxin formation, heat and drug resistance of Clostridium perfringens strains isolated from suckling pigs and broilers with necrotizing enteritis].

Nineteen Clostridium perfringens Type C strains and ten foreign control strains of subtypes C1, C3, and C4 were tested for their toxin formation and spore resistance to heat. The 19 Type C strains had been isolated from unweaned piglets in the context of necrotising enteritis outbreaks in the GDR. The Clostridium perfringens Type C strains formed beta-toxin, but they failed to form epsilon-toxin or gamma-toxin, alpha-toxin was successfully recorded from 15 of the 19 strains tested from unweaned piglets. The minor-lethal toxin fractions were also tested, with delta-toxin being recorded from all strains, non-alpha-delta-theta-toxin from six, theta-toxin from five, and K-toxin from one. Tests for delta-toxin, lambda-toxin, and mu-toxin were negative. The Clostridium perfringens Type C strains isolated in the GDR from unweaned piglets with necrotising enteritis were, basically, identical with those described in Denmark by von Hogh (1967) with regard to toxin formation. Clostridium perfringens strains cultured in broilers with necrotising enteritis were characterised by regular toxin production in the context of alpha, theta, delta as well as non-alpha-delta-theta. They failed to form beta, epsilon, gamma and lambda, while mu-toxin was formed by them quite irregularly. They, consequently, are Type A strains. Resistance to chloramphenicol and/or oxytetracycline was exhibited by 78.5 per cent of 237 tested Clostridium perfringens strains which had been isolated from unweaned piglets and broilers with necrotosing enteritis. Multiple resistance was recorded from 33.9 per cent. All strains were susceptible to penicillin, nitrofurantoin, and erythromycin.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Common mesophilic anaerobes, including Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani, in 21 soil specimens.

A relatively rich medium was markedly superior to a dilute medium for the isolation of anaerobic bacteria from soil. The obligate anaerobes isolated from 21 soil samples were all clostridia and the counts ranged from 2.7 X 10-2 to 3.3 X 10-6 per g. The organisms most frequently isolated were Clostridium subterminate, C. sordelii, C. sporogenes, C. indolis, C. bifermentans, C. mangenoti, and C. perfringens. Seventeen other species were also recognized but almost one-third of the isolates could not be identified with any known species of Clostridium. C. botulinum type A was demonstrated in six soil samples, and type B in one. These soils were neutral to alkaline in reaction (average pH 7.9) and low in organic matter content (1.4%). The association of C. botulinum types A and B with neutral to alkaline soils was statistically significant (P = 0.001) as was their association with soils low in organic matter (P = 0.005). C. botulinum types E and F were found in one soil sample, pH 4.5, with organic matter 13.7%. C. tetani was isolated from two soil samples, both of intermediate pH value and higher than average organic matter content.

Anaerobiosis↗
PubMed1979

Experimental reproduction of neonatal diarrhea in young gnotobiotic hares simultaneously associated with Clostridium difficile and other Clostridium strains.

Clostridium difficile, C. perfringens, and C. tertium are very often present simultaneously in the feces of conventional diarrheic young hares, whereas these three bacterial species are rarely encountered and never present simultaneously in the feces of healthy young hares. When a strain of each of the three bacterial species was monoassociated with axenic young hares, the appearance of pathological disorders was only observed in animals monoassociated with C. difficile, when the number of C. difficile exceeded 10(8) per g of fresh feces. When a strain of C. perfringens or a strain of C. tertium, or both, was associated with C. difficile, diarrhea and death occurred more rapidly than in hares monoassociated with C. difficile. C. difficile and C. perfringens became established more rapidly when disassociated than when monoassociated with axenic hares. The association of C. perfringens and C. tertium with axenic hares did not bring about any pathological disorders. It may be concluded that C. difficile is the causal agent of neonatal diarrhea in conventional and gnotobiotic young hares and that other strains of Clostridium enhance its pathogenic effect. C difficile alone or associated with C. perfringens or C. tertium does not play any pathogenic role in young rats, mice, or rabbits.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Neutralization of Clostridium difficile toxin by Clostridium sordellii antitoxins.

Neutralization of Clostridium difficile toxin by Clostridium sordellii antitoxin was studied by cytotoxicity assay in tissue culture. The sources of toxin were stools from two patients with pseudomembranous colitis and a culture filtrate of C. difficile isolated from one of the patients. C. sordellii antitoxin was available either in monovalent form or as gas gangrene polyvalent antitoxin. The potency of antitoxins against C. difficile determined by cytotoxicity assay did not correlate with the established values reported for mouse protection tests against C. sordellii toxin. An equivalent zone of optimal neutralization was demonstrated for stool toxin, and a slightly different one for culture toxin. The rate of neutralization appeared to be instantaneous, either at 24 or at 37 degrees C. The efficacy of antitoxin in preventing cytotoxicity in cultured cells preexposed to toxin decreased rapidly with preexposure time. The union between toxin and antitoxin could be readily dissociated by simple dilution or by ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by dissociated by simple dilution or by ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by dilution. Continued incubation of toxin-antitoxin mixture did not increase the firmness of the union; on the contrary, more dissociation occurred. The unusual looseness of the toxin-antitoxin union is probably relatd to lack of serological specificity or affinity. Based on these observations, a practical diagnostic method for antibiotic-induced colitis is outlined.

Antitoxins↗
PubMed1979

Cultures for Clostridium difficile in stools containing a cytotoxin neutralized by Clostridium sordellii antitoxin.

Stools from patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhea or colitis were cultured to detect the presence of Clostridium difficile. All specimens contained a cytotoxin which was neutralized by Clostridium sordellii antitoxin. Initial testing employed several methods with comparative merits in recovering this organism. These included the use of nonselective media, antibiotic-incorporated media, alcohol shock, and paracresol-containing broth. Optimal results were achieved with primary plating of serial dilutions onto a selective agar containing cycloserine and cefoxitin. This technique was then employed in a large number of specimens. The overall results showed that C. difficile was recovered in specimens from 71 of 73 patients. All isolates of C. difficile produced a cytotoxin which was neutralized by C. sordellii antitoxin in vitro. These results verify the utility of this medium and support the concept that C. difficile accounts for the cytotoxin found in stools in nearly all cases.

Antitoxins↗
PubMed1975

The use of 13C nuclear magnetic resonance of aromatic amino acid residues to determine the midpoint oxidation-reduction potential of each iron-sulfur cluster of Clostridium acidi-urici and Clostridium pasteurianum ferredoxins.

13C NMR of the aromatic residues of Clostridium acidi-urici [Phe2]ferredoxin (a chemically modified ferredoxin in which a phenylalanyl residue replaces a tyrosyl residue) and Clostridium pasteurianum ferredoxin permits one to distinguish and probe each iron-sulfur (Fe7S7) cluster neighboring the aromatic residues within each protein. This is because the ring carbon resonance shifts of the phenylalanyl and tyrosyl residues can be distinguished. The 13C NMR results suggest that the midpoint oxidation-reduction potentials of the two Fe4S4 clusters in C. pasteurianum and C. acidi-urici ferredoxin differ by 10 plus or minus 5 mv and smaller than mv, respectively. 13C NMR of an equilibrium mixture of methyl viologen-reduced C. acidi-urici and C. pasteurianum ferredoxin shows that the protein midpoint oxidation-reduction potential of C. acidi-urici ferredoxin is 47 plus or minus 10 mv lower than that of C. pasteurianum ferredoxin. We attribute the differences in cluster and protein midpoint oxidation-reduction potentials to differences in protein structure.

Carbon Isotopes↗
PubMed1978

Assignment of the cysteinyl 13C nuclear magnetic resonances and comparison of other aliphatic amino acid resonances of Clostridium acidi-urici, Clostridium pasteurianum, and Peptococcus aerogenes ferredoxins.

13C NMR spectra of Clostridium acidi-urici, Clostridium pasteurianum, and Peptococcus aerogenes ferredoxins show that some 13C resonances of the aliphatic amino acid residues are shifted significantly from their corresponding resonance positions in the spectra of model polypeptides or apoferredoxin. Thirteen 13C resonances are shifted into the 80- to 120-ppm (from CS2) region, and have been assigned to the cysteinyl alpha and beta carbon atoms. The remaining shifted resonances in the 120- to 190-ppm region are tentatively assigned to amino acid residues that may be close to [4Fe-4S] clusters of the oxidized and reduced ferredoxins. The similarity in the shift pattern of the corresponding 13C resonances of the cysteinyl alpha and beta carbon atoms in the three ferredoxins studied suggests that the three-dimensional amino acid environments of the corresponding [4Fe-4S] clusters in each protein are similar.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1975

Inhibition of Clostridium botulinum by strains of Clostridium perfringens isolated from soil.

Thirty-one soil samples were examined for the presence of organisms capable of inhibiting growth and toxin production of strains of Clostridium botulinum type A. Such organisms were found in eight samples of soil. Inhibiting strains of C. perfringens were found in five samples, of C. sporogenes in three and of Bacillus cereus in three. Three of the C. perfringens strains produced an inhibitor effective on all 11 strains of C. botulinum type A against which they were tested, seven of eight proteolytic type B strains, one nonproteolytic type B strain, five of nine type E strains and all seven type F strains, whether proteolytic or nonproteolytic. They did not inhibit any of 26 type C strains, 6 type D strains, 4 type E strains, or 24 C. sporogenes strains. In mixed culture, an inhibitor strain of C. perfringens repressed growth and toxin production by a C. botulinum type A strain even though it was outnumbered by the latter about 40 times. It also repressed growth and toxin production of C. botulinum in mixed culture of soils in which this latter organism naturally occurred when cooked meat medium but not when trypticase medium was used.

Antibiosis↗
PubMed1976

Effect of Clostridium toxoids, especially of Clostridium perfringens toxoid, on mouse transplanted tumors.

The antitumor activities of toxoids of Clostridium perfringens, C. nouyi, C. septicum, and C. tetani were tested against sarcoma-180 and Ehrlich carcinoma. Among them, C. perfringens toxoid showed a high antitumor activity against the growth of the implanted sarcoma-180 ascites form. The results of the inhibiting effect of C. perfringens toxoid on Nakahara-Tokuzen-Fukuoka (NTF) reticulum cell sarcoma and methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma were also described.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Selenium requirement for active xanthine dehydrogenase from Clostridium acidiurici and Clostridium cylindrosporum.

The xanthine dehydrogenase of Clostridium acidiurici and C. cylindrosporum was assayed with methyl viologen as acceptor. In C. acidiurici the basal activity level was about 0.3 mumol/min x mg of protein. Cells grown on uric acid in the presence of 10(-7) M selenite showed a 14-fold increase in xanthine dehydrogenase activity, which decreased with higher selenite concentrations (10(-5) M). The supplementation with 10(-7) M molybdate or tungstate was without effect. High concentrations of tungstate decreased the xanthine dehydrogenase if selenite was also present. In comparison, high concentrations of molybdate affected only a small decrease in activity level at the optimal concentration for selenite and relieved to some degree the inhibitory effect of 10(-5) M selenite. With hypoxanthine and xanthine as substrates for growth again only the addition of selenite was necessary to show a similar increase in xanthine dehydrogenase activity. C. acidiurici could be grown in a mineral medium. Both xanthine dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase exhibited the highest level of activity if selenite and tungstate were present in that medium. In C. cyclindrosporum the basal activity level of xanthine dehydrogenase was about 0.95 mumol/min x mg of protein. The addition of 10(-7) M selenite to the growth medium increased the activity level about 3-fold, but the highest level (3.7 U/mg) was reached if 10(-7) M molybdate was also added. The presence of tungstate resulted in a decreased enzyme activity.

Cell-Free System↗
PubMed1977

Differentiation between Clostridium acidiurici and Clostridium cylindrosporum on the basis of specific metal requirements for formate dehydrogenase formation.

The formate dehydrogenases of Clostridium acidiurici and of C. cylindrosporum coupled the oxidation of formate with the reduction of viologen dyes. The basal activity level was about 0.85 mumoles/min X mg of protein for both species. The level of formate dehydrogenase of C. acidiurici increased 12-fold when 10(-7) M tungstate and selenite were present during growth. Molybdate exerted no effect. On the other hand, molybdate and selenite were required to increase the formate dehydrogenase of C. cylindrosporum, and tungstate exhibitedan antagonistic effect in this organism. Growth on hypoxanthine generally depended on the addition of bicarbonate. Supplementation with tungstate and selenite accellerated growth of C. acidiurici and increased again the level of formate dehydrogenase. The addition of both, molybdate and selenite was necessary to initiate growth of C. cyclindrosporum and to form an active formate dehydrogenase. The differences in the requirement for metal ion supplementation to form high levels of formate dehydrogenase and their involvement in hypoxanthine degradation can be used to differentiate between C. acidiurici and C. cylindrosporum.

Aldehyde Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1976

Chemical characterization of the regularly arranged surface layers of Clostridium thermosaccharolyticum and Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum.

Clostridum thermosaccharolyticum and Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum possess as outermost cell wall layer a tetragonal or hexagonal ordered array of macromolecules. The subunits of the surface layer can be detached from isolated cell walls with urea (8M) or guanidine-HCl (4 to 5 M). Triton X-100, dithiothreitol, ethylenediaminetetracetate, and KCl (3 M) had no visible effect on the regular arrays. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophroesis showed that, in both organisms, the surface layer is composed of glycoprotein of molecular weight 140,000. The glycoprotein from both microorganisms has a predominantly acidic amino acid composition and an acidic isoelectric point after isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels. The glycocomponent is composed of glucose, galactose, mannose, and rhamnose.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1977

Ferredoxin and formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase: comparative studies with Clostridium acidiurici, Clostridium cylindrosporum, and newly isolated anaerobic uric acid-fermenting strains.

Six strains of Clostridium acidiurici and three strains of C. cylindrosporum were isolated from soil samples by enrichment culture with uric acid as the source of carbon, nitrogen, and energy. The newly isolated strains were characterized by their spore morphology and the amounts of glycine and formate formed by the fermentation of uric acid. The strains were easily identified as belonging to one species or the other on the basis of spore morphology and formate production. The crystal properties and spectra of the native ferredoxins of all the strains isolated and the amino acid composition and partial carboxy-terminal sequence of all their apoferredoxins were determined. All the ferredoxins were tested for cross-reactivity with antiserum to C. acidiurici ferredoxin by microcomplement fixation. Five of the six C. acidiurici strains, which had ferredoxins with amino acid compositions identical to that from C. acidiurici, also showed immunological identity (immunological distance = 0.0). These results suggest sequence identity. The one strain with a different amino acid composition failed to show complete cross-reactivity. Two of the three C. cylindrosporum strains have ferredoxin amino acid compositions identical to that from C. cylindrosporum. The third strain had a minimum of five differences in sequence. All C. cylindrosporum strains had ferredoxins that differed considerably from C. acidiurici strains (minimum of eight to nine differences), and none of these ferredoxins cross-reacted with antisera to C. acidiurici ferredoxin. Antisera were prepared to formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase from C. acidiurici and C. cylindrosporum, and all possible comparisons were made by using immunodiffusion and microcomplement fixation. There is more intraspecies variation in the synthetases than in the ferredoxins; however, the results suggest considerable interspecies differences in both proteins. These results suggest a low degree of genomic relatedness between the two species, which contrasts sharply with their apparent high degree of phenotypic similarity.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1978

Carbon monoxide oxidation by Clostridium thermoaceticum and Clostridium formicoaceticum.

Cultures of Clostridium formicoaceticum and C. thermoaceticum growing on fructose and glucose, respectively, were shown to rapidly oxidize CO to CO(2). Rates up to 0.4 mumol min(-1) mg of wet cells(-1) were observed. Carbon monoxide oxidation by cell suspensions was found (i) to be dependent on pyruvate, (ii) to be inhibited by alkyl halides and arsenate, and (iii) to stimulate CO(2) reduction to acetate. Cell extracts catalyzed the oxidation of carbon monoxide with methyl viologen at specific rates up to 10 mumol min(-1) mg of protein(-1) (35 degrees C, pH 7.2). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate and ferredoxin from C. pasteurianum were ineffective as electron acceptors. The catalytic mechanism of carbon monoxide oxidation was "ping-pong," indicating that the enzyme catalyzing carbon monoxide oxidation can be present in an oxidized and a reduced form. The oxidized form was shown to react reversibly with cyanide, and the reduced form was shown to react reversibly with alkyl halides: cyanide inactivated the enzyme only in the absence of carbon monoxide, and alkyl halides inactivated it only in the presence of carbon monoxide. Extracts inactivated by alkyl halides were reactivated by photolysis. The findings are interpreted to indicate that carbon monoxide oxidation in the two bacteria is catalyzed by a corrinoid enzyme and that in vivo the reaction is coupled with the reduction of CO(2) to acetate. Cultures of C. acidi-urici and C. cylindrosporum growing on hypoxanthine were found not to oxidize CO, indicating that clostridia mediating a corrinoid-independent total synthesis of acetate from CO(2) do not possess a CO-oxidizing system.

Acetates↗
PubMed1978

[Incidence of Clostridium botulinum in the rumen contents and faeces of cattle fed brewers' grains naturally contaminated with Clostridium botulinum (author's transl)].

The number of Clostridium botulinum type B organisms excreted by cattle fed brewers' grains in which these organisms were found to be present and the period for which they were excreted, were studied. Large numbers (10(5) - 10(7) per gramme) of these organisms were detected in the rumen contents and faeces of the animals. When feeding brewers' grains was discontinued, Cl. botulinum type B was still detectable in the faeces for a considerable period (greater than eight weeks). There was evidence to suggest that the number of Cl. botulinum organisms multiplies in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle.

Animal Feed↗