Type E Botulinum Neurotoxin-Producing Clostridium butyricum Strains Are Aerotolerant during Vegetative Growth.

ABSTRACT: Clostridium butyricum, the type species of the genus Clostridium, is considered an obligate anaerobe, yet it has been shown to grow in the presence of oxygen. C. butyricum strains atypically producing the botulinum neurotoxin type E are the leading cause of type E human botulism in Italy. Here, we show that type E botulinum neurotoxin-producing C. butyricum strains growing exponentially were able to keep growing and producing toxin in vitro upon exposure to air, although less efficiently than under ideal oxygen-depleted conditions. Bacterial growth in air was maintained when the initial cell density was higher than 10³ cells/ml. No spores were detected in the cultures aerated for 5 h. To understand the biological mechanisms allowing the adaptation of

SUBMITTER: Camerini S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6495232 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature