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Heat Resistance, Spore Germination, and Enterotoxigenicity of Clostridium perfringens
Author(s) -
Ando Yoshiaki,
Tsuzuki Toshibumi,
Sunagawa Hiroyuki,
Oka Shigemi
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1985.tb00830.x
Subject(s) - spore , germination , enterotoxin , microbiology and biotechnology , clostridium perfringens , heat resistance , biology , spore germination , food science , bacteria , horticulture , materials science , biochemistry , escherichia coli , genetics , composite material , gene
Heat resistance at 95 C, heat activation at 75 C, and germination response were determined for spores of 10 serotype strains of Clostridium perfringens type A, including five heat‐resistant and five heat‐sensitive strains. The D 95 ‐values ranged from 17.6 to 63.0 and from 1.3 to 2.8 for the heat‐resistant and the heat‐sensitive strains, respectively. The heat‐activation values, the ratios between the heated and unheated viable counts of spore suspensions, ranged from 0.0035 to 0.65 and from 6.5 to 60.0 for the heat‐sensitive and the heat‐resistant strains, respectively. Spores of these strains were divided into two distinct germination types on the basis of their germination response; spores of the heat‐resistant strains germinated in KCl medium after heat activation (K‐type), and spores of the heat‐sensitive strains germinated in a mixture of L‐alanine, inosine, and CaCl 2 in the presence of CO 2 without heat activation (A‐type). The strains were tested for enterotoxigenicity by a reversed passive latex‐agglutination (RPLA) test. All the heat‐resistant strains were RPLA‐positive, whereas the heat‐sensitive strains were all RPLA‐negative. A total of 37 strains of the organism isolated from food‐poisoning outbreaks were tested for spore germination and enterotoxin formation. All of the 20 heat‐resistant strains showed K‐type spore germination and, except for three strains, were RPLA‐positive, whereas all of the 17 heat‐sensitive strains showed A‐type spore germination and, except for only one strain, were RPLA‐negative.