Clostridium botulinum group I strain genotyping by 15-locus multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis

J Clin Microbiol. 2011 Dec;49(12):4252-63. doi: 10.1128/JCM.05396-11. Epub 2011 Oct 19.

Abstract

Clostridium botulinum is a taxonomic designation that encompasses a broad variety of spore-forming, Gram-positive bacteria producing the botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT). C. botulinum is the etiologic agent of botulism, a rare but severe neuroparalytic disease. Fine-resolution genetic characterization of C. botulinum isolates of any BoNT type is relevant for both epidemiological studies and forensic microbiology. A 10-locus multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) was previously applied to isolates of C. botulinum type A. The present study includes five additional loci designed to better address proteolytic B and F serotypes. We investigated 79 C. botulinum group I strains isolated from human and food samples in several European countries, including types A (28), B (36), AB (4), and F (11) strains, and 5 nontoxic Clostridium sporogenes. Additional data were deduced from in silico analysis of 10 available fully sequenced genomes. This 15-locus MLVA (MLVA-15) scheme identified 86 distinct genotypes that clustered consistently with the results of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and MLVA genotyping in previous reports. An MLVA-7 scheme, a subset of the MLVA-15, performed on a lab-on-a-chip device using a nonfluorescent subset of primers, is also proposed as a first-line assay. The phylogenetic grouping obtained with the MLVA-7 does not differ significantly from that generated by the MLVA-15. To our knowledge, this report is the first to analyze genetic variability among all of the C. botulinum group I serotypes by MLVA. Our data provide new insights into the genetic variability of group I C. botulinum isolates worldwide and demonstrate that this group is genetically highly diverse.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Botulism / microbiology
  • Clostridium botulinum / classification*
  • Clostridium botulinum / genetics*
  • Clostridium botulinum / isolation & purification
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Food Microbiology
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Minisatellite Repeats*
  • Molecular Epidemiology / methods
  • Molecular Typing / methods*
  • Pathology, Molecular / methods
  • Phylogeny
  • Polymorphism, Genetic*