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Title: Comparative Analysis of Clostridium perfringens Bacteriophage

Author
item Simmons, Ibn Abdul
item PLEASANT, DOREA - CLAFLIN UNIV
item Kuntz, Robin
item Siragusa, Gregory
item ANDACHT, TRACY - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item ACKERMANN, HANS - LAVAL UNIV CANADA
item Seal, Bruce

Submitted to: American Society for Microbiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/28/2008
Publication Date: 6/2/2008
Citation: Simmons, I.M., Pleasant, D., Kuntz, R.L., Siragusa, G.R., Andacht, T., Ackermann, H.W., Seal, B.S. 2008. Comparative Analysis of Clostridium perfringens Bacteriophage. American Society for Microbiology. Abstract M-011.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Background: Clostridium perfringens are Gram-positive bacteria that are a major bacterial cause of food-borne disease and gas gangrene among humans. These anaerobic bacteria are also the presumptive etiologic agent of necrotic enteritis among chickens. Pathogenesis and symptoms of a necrotic enteritis infection among chickens can be determined by the toxins produced by C. perfringens strains type A or C. This problem may increase for the poultry industry and may possibly become a severe issue for food-borne disease among humans if antibiotics are withdrawn from animal feeds. Therefore, the potential applications of lytic bacteriophage and/or their lytic enzymes have become of interest in the veterinary, medical and bioindustry fields. Methods: In an effort to contribute to the discovery of new antimicrobial agents, we used several techniques to compare four C. perfringens bacterial isolates, Cp13, Cp 26, Cp34 and Cp39, and their specific bacteriophage, Cp phage13-O, Cp phage 26-F, Cp phage 34-O and Cp phage 39-O. The C. perfringens bacteriophages were screened against all test hosts. Results: The bacteriophages had specificity for there host with only one phage able to infect and lyse more than a single target strain, Cp phage 39-O. Electron micrographs showed that all of the bacteriophages had similar physical characteristics resulting in their classification as members of the Siphoviridae. A number of protein structural regions were determined to be common to all four C. perfringens bacteriophages as analyzed by mass spectrometry. DNA blot hybridization analysis demonstrated high nucleic acid sequence similarity among the bacteriophage genomes. Conclusion: The phage genomes are being sequenced to search for regions encoding lytic enzymes that can be utilized to control the host bacteria C. perfringens.