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Detection of α‐ and ε‐toxigenic Clostridium perfringens Type D in sheep and goats using a DNA amplification technique (PCR)
Author(s) -
Miserez,
Frey Frey,
Buogo,
Capaul,
Tontis,
Burnens,
Nicolet
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1472-765x.1998.00356.x
Subject(s) - clostridium perfringens , toxin , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , polymerase chain reaction , gene , clostridiaceae , clostridium , bacteria , genetics
Clostridium perfringens isolated from sheep and goat with enterotoxaemia at necropsy and from healthy animals at slaughter were typed using specific PCR assays for the detection of the α‐, β‐ and ε‐toxin genes. Clostridium perfringens isolated from all 52 animals with pathological signs of enterotoxaemia showed the presence of the α‐ and ε‐toxin genes but were devoid of the β‐toxin gene. These strains could therefore be identified as type D, characteristic for clostridial enterotoxaemia of sheep, lambs and goats. In contrast, Cl. perfringens isolated from 11 of 13 healthy animals only contained the α‐toxin gene which is typical for type A. Two of the healthy animals contained Cl. perfringens with the α‐ and ε‐toxin genes. However, when several individual Cl. perfringens colonies were analysed from each of these two animals, only a small percentage was found to contain the ε‐toxin gene, whereas the majority of the colonies were of type A with the α‐toxin gene only. This is in contrast to the findings from the diseased animals which contained practically only type D Cl. perfringens . The β‐toxin gene was not found in any Cl. perfringens isolate from goat and sheep. Comparison of the PCR data with results obtained by the classical biological toxin assay using the mouse model showed a good correlation.