English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Clostridium perfringens is a gastrointestinal pathogen capable of causing disease in a variety of hosts. Necrotic enteritis in chickens is caused byC. perfringens strains that produce the pore-forming toxin NetB, the major virulence factor for this disease. Like many otherC. perfringens toxins and antibiotic resistance genes, NetB is encoded on a conjugative plasmid. Conjugative transfer of thenetB -containing plasmid pJIR3535 has been demonstratedin vitro with anetB -null mutant. This study has investigated the effect of plasmid transfer on disease pathogenesis, with two genetically distinct transconjugants constructed underin vitro conditions, within the intestinal tract of chickens. This study also demonstrates that plasmid transfer can occur naturally in the host gut environment without the need for antibiotic selective pressure to be applied. The demonstration of plasmid transfer within the chicken host may have implications for the progression and pathogenesis ofC. perfringens -mediated disease. Such horizontal gene transfer events are likely to be common in the clostridia and may be a key factor in strain evolution, both within animals and in the wider environment.IMPORTANCE Clostridium perfringens is a major gastrointestinal pathogen of poultry.C. perfringens strains that express the NetB pore-forming toxin, which is encoded on a conjugative plasmid, cause necrotic enteritis. This study demonstrated that the conjugative transfer of thenetB -containing plasmid to two different nonpathogenic strains converted them into disease-causing strains with disease-causing capability similar to that of the donor strain. Plasmid transfer ofnetB and antibiotic resistance was also demonstrated to occur within the gastrointestinal tract of chickens, with approximately 14% of the isolates recovered comprising three distinct,in vivo -derived, transconjugant types. The demonstration ofin vivo plasmid transfer indicates the potential importance of strain plasticity and the contribution of plasmids to strain virulence.

applied and environmental microbiology

Conjugation-Mediated Horizontal Gene Transfer of Clostridium perfringens Plasmids in the Chicken Gastrointestinal Tract Results in the Formation of New Virulent Strains