Comparative genome analysis of clostridium perfringens isolates from healthy and necrotic enteritis infected poultry and diseased pigs

Troels Ronco, Ulrike Lyhs, Marc Stegger, Paal Skytt Andersen, Karl Pedersen

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference abstract in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Introduction: Clostridium perfringens causes gastrointestinal diseases in both humans and domestic animals. Type A strains are the main cause of necrotic enteritis (NE) in chickens, which is a significant economic issue in the international poultry industry. The NetB and Cpb2 toxins seem to be important for the development of NE in chickens and piglets, respectively, while the role of these toxins is less well elucidated in diseased turkeys.
    Methods: We carried out comparative genomic analysis of 40 C. perfringens genomes from healthy and NE-suffering chickens and turkeys, and diseased pigs using whole-genome data.
    Results: Analyses of virulence gene content including VirR boxes showed that netB was primarily found among NE isolates from chickens, while cpb2 dominated the isolates from diseased pigs. The pathogenicity loci NELoc-1, -2 and -3 were primarily observed in NE isolates from poultry and most commonly in chickens, whereas only NELoc-2 was common among isolates from diseased turkeys. Furthermore, conjugative plasmid transfer genes were identified in the majority of all isolates, and VirR boxes were found upstream of genes that are essential in the NE pathogenesis.
    Conclusions:
    • netB, NELoc-1 and -3 seem to play an important role in the NE pathogenesis in chickens, whereas cpb2 is important in diseased pigs.
    • The VirSR two-component system is involved in regulating NE-associated virulence genes.
    • Conjugative plasmid genes are widely spread among C. perfringens.
    • WGS is a powerful tool to investigate virulence properties and population genetic structure of C. perfringens.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationThe Danish Microbiological Society Annual Congress 2015 : Programme & Abstracts
    Place of PublicationCopenhagen
    Publication date2015
    Pages89-89
    Publication statusPublished - 2015
    EventThe Danish Microbiological Society Annual Congress 2015 - Eigtved's Pakhus, Copenhagen, Denmark
    Duration: 9 Nov 20159 Nov 2015

    Conference

    ConferenceThe Danish Microbiological Society Annual Congress 2015
    LocationEigtved's Pakhus
    Country/TerritoryDenmark
    CityCopenhagen
    Period09/11/201509/11/2015

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Comparative genome analysis of clostridium perfringens isolates from healthy and necrotic enteritis infected poultry and diseased pigs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this