Influence of pCP1NetB ancillary genes on the virulence of Clostridium perfringens poultry necrotic enteritis strain CP1. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, Hongzhuan; Lepp, Dion; Pei, Yanlong; Liu, Mei; Yin, Xianhua; Ma, Rongcai; Prescott, John; Gong, Joshua
• Is Part Of: Gut pathogens. Volume 9:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 7
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Necrotic enteritis -- Clostridium perfringens -- Plasmid-deficient mutant -- NELoc-1 -- NetB; Gastrointestinal system -- Microbiology -- Periodicals; 616.3
• DOI: 10.1186/s13099-016-0152-y
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1757-4749

Abstract

Abstract Background Necrotic enteritis (NE) is an economically important disease of poultry caused by certainClostridium perfringens type A strains. The NetB toxin plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of NE. We previously demonstrated thatnetB is located within a 42 kb plasmid-encoded pathogenicity locus (NELoc-1), which also encodes 36 additional genes. Although NetB clearly plays a role in pathogenesis, the involvement of the other NELoc-1 genes has not yet been established. The current study was to provide experimental evidence to confirm the involvement of these genes in NE pathogenesis. Results The present study has characterized a virulentC. perfringens strain (CP1) that has spontaneously lost the NELoc-1-encoding plasmid, pCP1netB. When assessed for cytotoxicity on Leghorn Male Hepatoma (LMH) cells, the culture supernatant of the pCP1netB-deficient CP1 variant (CP1ΔpCP1netB) demonstrated significantly reduced cytotoxicity compared to the wild-type. In addition, CP1ΔpCP1netB was unable to cause intestinal lesions in chickens in a NE disease model. WhennetB alone was introduced into CP1ΔpCP1netB, in vitro cytotoxicity was restored to the wild-type level; however, it did not completely restore virulence when used to challenge broiler chickens [mean lesion score of 0.71 compared to 3.23 in the wild type control group (n = 14)]. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that other genes present in NELoc-1, in addition tonetB, are required for full virulence in the chicken challenge model.