The gene encoding Clostridium sordellii phospholipase C (Csp) was cloned and expressed as a histidine-tagged (His-tag) protein, and the protein was purified to compare its enzymatic and biological activities with those of Clostridium perfringens phospholipase C (Cpa) and Clostridium bifermentans phospholipase C (Cbp). Csp was found to consist of 371 amino acid residues in the mature form and to be more homologous to Cbp than to Cpa. The egg yolk phospholipid hydrolysis activity of the His-tag Csp was about one-third of that of His-tag Cpa, but the hemolytic activity was less than 1% of that of His-tag Cpa. His-tag Csp was nontoxic to mice. Immunization of mice with His-tag Cbp or His-tag Csp did not provide effective protection against the lethal activity of His-tag Cpa. These results indicate that Csp possesses similar molecular properties to Cbp and suggest that comparative analysis of toxic and nontoxic clostridial phospholipases is helpful for characterization of the toxic properties of clostridial phospholipases.

A range of clostridial species produce phospholipases C. The zinc metallo phospholipases C have related sequences but different properties. All of these enzymes may be arranged, like alpha-toxin as two-domain proteins. Differences in enzymatic, haemolytic and toxic properties may be explained by differences in amino acids at key positions.

In the present study, a Taqman allelic discrimination assay based on three SNPs of the TPI gene is described. It was used as a differential diagnostic tool to detect blackleg and malignant edema. Sudden deaths of grazing ruminants, such as cattle, sheep and goats, which show clinical signs related to hyperacute infective processes, encouraged the development of a rapid and precise diagnostic molecular method. Specific primers and probes for Clostridium septicum and Clostridium chauvoei were designed on the basis of the TPI gene sequence. The multiplex PCR was tested on the DNA of a total of 57 strains, including 24 Clostridium chauvoei, 20 Clostridium septicum, 1 Bacillus anthracis and 12 other Clostridium spp. The DNA samples from Clostridium chauvoei and Clostridium septicum strains were amplified. Amplification of other DNA samples was not observed, with the exception of Clostridium tertium, which showed a weak positive signal. To avoid misdiagnosis, a confirmatory assay based on a Sybr green real time PCR was proposed. The authors confirmed the efficacy and the specificity of the test used in this study, which proved to be a useful tool for the diagnosis of clostridiosis that are often diagnosed using only traditional tools.

Clostridium chauvoei is the causative agent of blackleg in cattle and sheep. The clinical symptoms of this severe disease are very similar to that of malignant edema (Clostridium septicum), infections of other Clostridium species belonging to the gas edema complex, and anthrax (Bacillus anthracis). C. chauvoei and C. septicum are closely related taxa and share many phenotypic properties hampering diagnosis by using traditional microbiological methods. Thus, there is a need for a fast and reliable identification method for specific detection of both species in clinical samples. The multiplex real-time PCR assay presented here is based on the detection of the spo0A gene and enables the simultaneous identification of C. chauvoei and C. septicum. The assay design includes an amplification control DNA template for the recognition of PCR-inhibitors. Assay validation was performed using a collection of 29 C. chauvoei, 38 C. septicum strains and 26 strains of other Clostridium species. Furthermore, the real-time PCR assay was successfully tested on tissue samples from 19 clinical blackleg cases. The assay allowed the reliable detection of one picogram DNA which represents approximate 239 genome equivalents.

Castanospermine was identified as an inhibitor of the Rho/Ras-glucosylating Clostridium sordellii lethal toxin and Clostridium difficile toxin B. Microinjection of castanospermine into embryonic bovine lung cells prevented the cytotoxic effects of toxins. The crystal structure of the glucosyltransferase domain of C. sordellii lethal toxin in complex with castanospermine, UDP and a calcium ion was solved at a resolution of 2.3A. The inhibitor binds in a conformation that brings its four hydroxyl groups and its N-atom almost exactly in the positions of the four hydroxyls and of the ring oxygen of the glucosyl moiety of UDP-glucose, respectively.

The crystal structures of the catalytic fragments of 'lethal toxin' from Clostridium sordellii and of 'alpha-toxin' from Clostridium novyi have been established. Almost half of the residues follow the chain fold of the glycosyl-transferase type A family of enzymes; the other half forms large alpha-helical protrusions that are likely to confer specificity for the respective targeted subgroup of Rho proteins in the cell. In the crystal, the active center of alpha-toxin contained no substrates and was disassembled, whereas that of lethal toxin, which was ligated with the donor substrate UDP-glucose and cofactor Mn2+, was catalytically competent. Surprisingly, the structure of lethal toxin with Ca2+ (instead of Mn2+) at the cofactor position showed a bound donor substrate with a disassembled active center, indicating that the strictly octahedral coordination sphere of Mn2+ is indispensable to the integrity of the enzyme. The homologous structures of alpha-toxin without substrate, distorted lethal toxin with Ca2+ plus donor, active lethal toxin with Mn2+ plus donor and the homologous Clostridium difficile toxin B with a hydrolyzed donor have been lined up to show the geometry of several reaction steps. Interestingly, the structural refinement of one of the three crystallographically independent molecules of Ca2+-ligated lethal toxin resulted in the glucosyl half-chair conformation expected for glycosyl-transferases that retain the anomeric configuration at the C1'' atom. A superposition of six acceptor substrates bound to homologous enzymes yielded the position of the nucleophilic acceptor atom with a deviation of <1 A. The resulting donor-acceptor geometry suggests that the reaction runs as a circular electron transfer in a six-membered ring, which involves the deprotonation of the nucleophile by the beta-phosphoryl group of the donor substrate UDP-glucose.

A 4.3 kb XbaI restriction fragment of DNA from Clostridium sordellii G12 hybridized with a synthetic oligonucleotide representing the N-terminus of the sialidase protein secreted by C. sordellii. This cloned fragment was shown to encode only part of the sialidase protein. The sialidase gene of C. sordellii was completed by a 0.7 kb RsaI restriction fragment overlapping one end of the XbaI fragment. After combining the two fragments and transformation of Escherichia coli, a clone that expressed sialidase was obtained. The nucleotide sequence of the sialidase gene of C. sordellii G12 was determined. The sequence of the 18 N-terminal amino acids of the purified extracellular enzyme perfectly matched the predicted amino acid sequence near the beginning of the structural gene. The amino acid sequence derived from the complete gene corresponds to a protein with a molecular mass of 44,735 Da. Upstream from the putative ATG initiation codon, ribosomal-binding site and promoter-like consensus sequences were found. The encoded protein has a leader sequence of 27 amino acids. The enzyme expressed in E. coli has similar properties to the enzyme isolated from C. sordellii, except for small differences in size and isoelectric point. Significant homology (70%) was found with a sialidase gene from C. perfringens.

We report a case of foot infection by Clostridium sordellii and review 15 human infections registered at a Reference Center in France during the period 1998 to 2011. All strains were found nontoxigenic, lacking the lethal toxin gene coding for TcsL. Like Clostridium septicum, several C. sordellii infections were associated with intestinal neoplasms.

Large clostridial glucosylating toxins (LCGTs) are produced by toxigenic strains of Clostridium difficile, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium novyi and Clostridium sordellii. While most C. sordellii strains solely produce lethal toxin (TcsL), C. sordellii strain VPI9048 co-produces both hemorrhagic toxin (TcsH) and TcsL. Here, the sequences of TcsH-9048 and TcsL-9048 are provided, showing that both toxins retain conserved LCGT features and that TcsL and TcsH are highly related to Toxin A (TcdA) and Toxin B (TcdB) from C. difficile strain VPI10463. The substrate profile of the toxins was investigated with recombinant LCGT transferase domains (rN) and a wide panel of small GTPases. rN-TcsH-9048 and rN-TcdA-10463 glucosylated preferably Rho-GTPases but also Ras-GTPases to some extent. In this respect, rN-TcsH-9048 and rN-TcdA-10463 differ from the respective full-length TcsH-9048 and TcdA-10463, which exclusively glucosylate Rho-GTPases. rN-TcsL-9048 and full length TcsL-9048 glucosylate both Rho- and Ras-GTPases, whereas rN-TcdB-10463 and full length TcdB-10463 exclusively glucosylate Rho-GTPases. Vero cells treated with full length TcsH-9048 or TcdA-10463 also showed glucosylation of Ras, albeit to a lower extent than of Rho-GTPases. Thus, in vitro analysis of substrate spectra using recombinant transferase domains corresponding to the auto-proteolytically cleaved domains, predicts more precisely the in vivo substrates than the full length toxins. Except for TcdB-1470, all LCGTs evoked increased expression of the small GTPase RhoB, which exhibited cytoprotective activity in cells treated with TcsL isoforms, but pro-apoptotic activity in cells treated with TcdA, TcdB, and TcsH. All LCGTs induced a rapid dephosphorylation of pY118-paxillin and of pS144/141-PAK1/2 prior to actin filament depolymerization indicating that disassembly of focal adhesions is an early event leading to the disorganization of the actin cytoskeleton.

In ileal loop assay, ELISA and anion-exchange column chromatography, Clostridium sordellii strain 6018 was shown to produce a cytotoxin, but no detectable enterotoxin. DNA sequence and polymerase chain reaction analyses indicated that the lack of enterotoxin activity is not due to a lack of gene transcription, but to lack of a major portion of the enterotoxin gene. This is the first characterisation of such a strain.

A bile acid-inducible NADP-linked 7 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (7 alpha-HSDH) from Clostridium sordellii ATCC 9714 was purified 310-fold by ion-exchange, gel filtration, and dye-ligand affinity chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the purified enzyme showed one predominant peptide band (30,000 Da). The N-terminal sequence was determined, and the corresponding oligonucleotides were synthesized and used to screen EcoRI and HindIII genomic digests of C. sordellii. Two separate fragments (4,500 bp, EcoRI; 3,200 bp, HindIII) were subsequently cloned by ligation to pUC19 and transformation into Escherichia coli DH5 alpha-MCR. The EcoRI fragment was shown to contain a truncated 7 alpha-HSDH gene, while the HindIII fragment contained the entire coding region. E. coli clones containing the HindIII insert expressed high levels of an NADP-linked 7 alpha-HSDH. Nucleotide sequence analyses suggest that the 7 alpha-HSDH is encoded by a monocistronic transcriptional unit, with DNA sequence elements resembling rho-independent terminators located in both the upstream and downstream flanking regions. The transcriptional start site was located by primer extension analysis. Northern (RNA) blot analysis indicated that induction is mediated at the transcriptional level in response to the presence of bile acid in the growth medium. In addition, growth-phase-dependent expression is observed in uninduced cultures. Analysis of the predicted protein sequence indicates that the enzyme can be classified in the short-chain dehydrogenase group.

Hybridization of an oligodeoxyribonucleotide (oligo) probe, designed from a repeated sequence ('oligo rep') at the C terminus of the Clostridium difficile (Cd) cytotoxin (Cyt), revealed that homologies exist between the Cd cyt gene and the genomes of several other clostridia, including Clostridium sordellii (Cs), suggesting a common ancestral cyt amongst the Clostridium genus. This Cd 'oligo rep' probe was used to clone the Cs (strain 6018) cyt. The sequenced (7095 bp) region encodes 2364 amino acids (aa) and corresponds to a protein of 270,614 Da. Cs Cyt has 76% identity with the Cd Cyt and 47% identity with the Cd enterotoxin (Ent). The latter third of the protein consists of repeated units, similar to those found for Cd Cyt. A highly conserved hydrophobic domain can be delineated. Few structural differences are evident between Cd and Cs Cyt to explain their different cellular and sub-cellular effects. A small open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 16,484 Da is located 210 bp downstream from cyt. No homology was evident with any known sequence. The first 30 aa of this ORF may correspond to a signal peptide.

With the current rise of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, it is important to monitor the efficacy of antimicrobials in clinical use. Paeniclostridium sordellii (previously Clostridium sordellii) is a bacterial pathogen that causes human uterine infection after spontaneous or medically induced abortion, for which mortality rates approach 100%. Prophylactic antibiotics have been recommended for individuals undergoing medically-induced abortion, one of which is doxycycline, a member of the tetracycline antibiotic family. However, tetracycline resistance had not been well characterized in P. sordellii. This study therefore aimed to determine the levels of tetracycline resistance in P. sordellii isolates, and to identify associated loci and their genomic locations. Using a MIC assay, five of 24 P. sordellii isolates were found to be resistant to tetracycline, minocycline, and importantly, doxycycline. Analysis of genome sequence data from 46 isolates found that phenotypically resistant isolates encoded a variant of the Clostridium perfringens tetracycline resistance determinant Tet P. Bioinformatic analysis and comparison of the regions surrounding these determinants found variation in the genomic location of Tet P among P. sordellii isolates. The core genome comparison of the 46 isolates revealed genetic diversity and the absence of dominant genetic types among the isolates. There was no strong association between geographic location of isolation, animal host or Tet P carriage with isolate genetic type. Furthermore, the analysis of the Tet P genotype revealed that Tet P is encoded chromosomally, or on one of two, novel, small plasmids, all consistent with multiple acquisition and recombination events. BLAST analysis of Clostridioides difficile draft genome sequences also identified a Tet P locus, the genomic location of which demonstrated an evolutionary relationship with the P. sordellii locus. The Tet P determinant is found in variable genomic locations within diverse human and animal isolates of P. sordellii and C. difficile, which suggests that it can undergo horizontal transfer, and may disseminate tetracycline resistance between clostridial species. Doxycycline is a suggested prophylactic treatment for P. sordellii infections, however, a small sub-set of the isolates tested are resistant to this antibiotic. Doxycycline may therefore not be an appropriate prophylactic treatment for P. sordellii infections.

The group of butyrate-producing bacteria within the human gut microbiome may be associated with positive effects on memory improvement, according to previous studies on dementia-associated diseases. Here, fecal samples of four elderly Japanese diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) were used to isolate butyrate-producing bacteria. 226 isolates were randomly picked, their 16S rRNA genes were sequenced, and assigned into sixty OTUs (operational taxonomic units) based on BLASTn results. Four isolates with less than 97% homology to known sequences were considered as unique OTUs of potentially butyrate-producing bacteria. In addition, 12 potential butyrate-producing isolates were selected from the remaining 56 OTUs based on scan-searching against the PubMed and the ScienceDirect databases. Those belonged to the phylum Bacteroidetes and to the clostridial clusters I, IV, XI, XV, XIVa within the phylum Firmicutes. 15 out of the 16 isolates were indeed able to produce butyrate in culture as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection. Furthermore, encoding genes for butyrate formation in these bacteria were identified by sequencing of degenerately primed PCR products and included the genes for butyrate kinase (buk), butyryl-CoA: acetate CoAtransferase (but), CoA-transferase-related, and propionate CoA-transferase. The results showed that eight isolates possessed buk, while five isolates possessed but. The CoA-transfer-related gene was identified as butyryl-CoA:4-hydroxybutyrate CoA transferase (4-hbt) in four strains. No strains contained the propionate CoA-transferase gene. The biochemical and butyrate-producing pathways analyses of butyrate producers presented in this study may help to characterize the butyrate-producing bacterial community in the gut of AD patients.

Trans-sialylation is a unique enzymatic process that is restricted to some trypanosome species. By expressing developmentally regulated trans-sialidases, these protozoan parasites cleave sialic acids from host glycoconjugates and transfer them to acceptors on their own cell surfaces. The biological function of this process is not understood, but trans-sialylation is expected to be important in the invasion of mammalian cells by Trypanosoma cruzi and the survival of Trypanosoma brucei within its insect vector. Since a conventional gene knockout approach was precluded, we developed a dominant-negative strategy, in which fusion proteins consisting of a bacterial sialidase and trypanosome proteins were expressed in T.brucei and T.cruzi. The strong recombinant sialidase activity shifted the reaction equilibrium from sialic acid transfer to hydrolysis, in this way creating a sialic-acid-negative phenotype. Taking advantage of a recently introduced inducible expression system, we were able to control the expression of sialidase fusion proteins in T.brucei. Reversion of the sialic-acid-negative state to wild-type sialylation was accomplished by selective inhibition of the foreign sialidase, leaving the parasite trans-sialidase unaffected. Both desialylation and resialylation of trypanosomes was rapidly achieved. Our results show that neither T.brucei nor T.cruzi require sialic acids for survival in vitro, ruling out the involvement of sialylation in cell surface integrity. The versatile system introduced here will allow a detailed in vivo study of the role of trans-sialylation during the trypanosome infection cycle. Furthermore, cell-surface sialic acids are implicated in a multitude of (patho-) biochemical processes in other organisms. The quantitative and qualitative manipulation of cell surface sialic acids, by expressing of counteracting enzymes, constitutes a novel approach with potentially broad applications in glycobiology.