Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China; Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Major Ruminant Diseases, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Yangling, China.
Department of Applied Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Food Microbiol. 2025 Jan;125:104640. doi: 10.1016/j.fm.2024.104640. Epub 2024 Sep 7.
Clostridium perfringens, as a foodborne pathogen, can cause various intestinal diseases in both humans and animals according to its repertoire of toxins. In recent years, a multitude of studies have highlighted its threat to infants and young children. C. perfringens carries numerous toxins, with the newly identified BEC toxin confirmed as the second toxin to cause diarrheal illness, after CPE. However, the global dissemination of C. perfringens strains carrying becAB genes, which encode BEC toxins, has not been extensively studied. Following epidemiological surveillance of the prevalence of C. perfringens from different sources in various provinces of China, we identified two becAB-carrying strains and one strain carrying a sequence similar to becAB from distinct provinces and sources. When combined with genomic analysis of other becAB-carrying C. perfringens strains from public databases, we found that becAB was present in strains from different lineages. Our analysis of the plasmid and genetic environment corroborates previous findings on becAB-carrying strains, confirming that it currently achieves horizontal transmission through one type of evolutionarily conserved Pcp plasmid. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the prevalence and transmission patterns of the newly emerged toxin gene locus, becAB, in C. perfringens. Despite the relatively low identification rate of becAB-carrying strains, their potential impact requires ongoing surveillance and investigation of their features, particularly their antimicrobial resistance.
产气荚膜梭菌作为食源性病原体，根据其毒素谱可以在人类和动物中引起各种肠道疾病。近年来，大量研究强调了它对婴儿和幼儿的威胁。产气荚膜梭菌携带多种毒素，新发现的 BEC 毒素被确认为继 CPE 之后引起腹泻病的第二种毒素。然而，携带 becAB 基因（编码 BEC 毒素）的产气荚膜梭菌菌株在全球的传播情况尚未得到广泛研究。我们对来自中国不同省份不同来源的产气荚膜梭菌的流行情况进行了流行病学监测，从不同省份和来源鉴定出了两株携带 becAB 的菌株和一株携带 becAB 类似序列的菌株。结合公共数据库中其他携带 becAB 的产气荚膜梭菌菌株的基因组分析，我们发现 becAB 存在于不同谱系的菌株中。我们对质粒和遗传环境的分析证实了携带 becAB 菌株的先前发现，确认它目前通过一种进化上保守的 Pcp 质粒实现水平传播。本研究对产气荚膜梭菌中新出现的毒素基因座 becAB 的流行和传播模式进行了全面分析。尽管携带 becAB 的菌株的鉴定率相对较低，但需要对其进行持续监测和特征研究，特别是其对抗菌药物的耐药性。
