Comparative Genomics of Clostridium perfringens Reveals Patterns of Host-Associated Phylogenetic Clades and Virulence Factors

• Published in: Frontiers in microbiology Vol. 12; p. 649953
• Main Authors: Geier, Renae R, Rehberger, Thomas G, Smith, Alexandra H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 09.06.2021
• Subjects: avian; Clostridium perfringens; hemorrhagic bowel syndrome; Microbiology; necrotic enteritis; ruminant; ruminant; hemorrhagic bowel syndrome; Clostridium perfringens; necrotic enteritis; avian
• ISSN: 1664-302X; 1664-302X
• DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.649953

is an opportunistic pathogenic bacterium that infects both animals and humans. genomes encode a diverse array of toxins and virulence proteins, which continues to expand as more genomes are sequenced. In this study, the genomes of 44 strains isolated from intestinal sections of diseased cattle and from broiler chickens from diseased and healthy flocks were sequenced. These newly assembled genomes were compared to 141 publicly available genome assemblies, by aligning known toxin and virulence protein sequences in the assemblies using BLASTp. The genes for alpha toxin, collagenase, a sialidase ( ), and alpha-clostripain were present in at least 99% of assemblies analyzed. In contrast, beta toxin, epsilon toxin, iota toxin, and binary enterotoxin of toxinotypes B, C, D, and E were present in less than 5% of assemblies analyzed. Additional sequence variants of beta2 toxin were detected, some of which were missing the leader or signal peptide sequences and therefore likely not secreted. Some pore-forming toxins involved in intestinal diseases were host-associated, the gene was only found in avian isolates, while , , and were only present in canine and equine isolates. Alveolysin was positively associated with canine and equine strains and only present in a single monophyletic clade. Strains from ruminant were not associated with known virulence factors and, except for the food poisoning associated clade, were present across the phylogenetic diversity identified to date for . Many strains associated with food poisoning lacked the genes for hyaluronidases and sialidases, important for attaching to and digesting complex carbohydrates found in animal tissues. Overall, the diversity of virulence factors in makes these species capable of causing disease in a wide variety of hosts and niches.