Affiliation:
1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine
2. Department of Microbiology, College of Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Clostridium perfringens
type A isolates carrying a chromosomal copy of the enterotoxin (
cpe
) gene are involved in the majority of food poisoning (FP) outbreaks, while type A isolates carrying a plasmid-borne
cpe
gene are involved in
C. perfringens
-associated non-food-borne (NFB) gastrointestinal diseases. To cause diseases,
C. perfringens
spores must germinate and return to active growth. Previously, we showed that only spores of FP isolates were able to germinate with K
+
ions. We now found that the spores of the majority of FP isolates, but none of the NFB isolates, germinated with the cogerminants Na
+
and inorganic phosphate (NaP
i
) at a pH of ∼6.0. Spores of
gerKA-KC
and
gerAA
mutants germinated to a lesser extent and released less dipicolinic acid (DPA) than did wild-type spores with NaP
i
. Although
gerKB
spores germinated to a similar extent as wild-type spores with NaP
i
, their rate of germination was lower. Similarly,
gerO
and
gerO gerQ
mutant spores germinated slower and released less DPA than did wild-type spores with NaP
i
. In contrast,
gerQ
spores germinated to a slightly lesser extent than wild-type spores but released all of their DPA during NaP
i
germination. In sum, this study identified NaP
i
as a novel nutrient germinant for spores of most FP isolates and provided evidence that proteins encoded by the
gerKA-KC
operon,
gerAA
, and
gerO
are required for NaP
i
-induced spore germination.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
Cited by
35 articles.
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