JB
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Briolat, V.
Right arrow Articles by Reysset, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Briolat, V.
Right arrow Articles by Reysset, G.
Journal of Bacteriology, May 2002, p. 2333-2343, Vol. 184, No. 9
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.9.2333-2343.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification of the Clostridium perfringens Genes Involved in the Adaptive Response to Oxidative Stress

V. Briolat and G. Reysset*

Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Bactérienne, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France

Received 5 September 2001/ Accepted 29 January 2002

Clostridium perfringens is a ubiquitous gram-positive pathogen that is present in the air, soil, animals, and humans. Although C. perfringens is strictly anaerobic, vegetative and stationary cells can survive in a growth-arrested stage in the presence of oxygen and/or low concentrations of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals. Indeed, it possesses an adaptive response to oxidative stress, which can be activated in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. To identify the genes involved in this oxidative stress response, C. perfringens strain 13 mutants were generated by Tn916 insertional mutagenesis and screened for resistance or sensitivity to various oxidative stresses. Three of the 12 sensitive mutants examined harbored an independently inserted single copy of the transposon in the same operon as two genes orthologous to the ydaD and ycdF genes of Bacillus subtilis, which encode a putative NADPH dehydrogenase. Complementation experiments and knockout experiments demonstrated that these genes are both required for efficient resistance to oxidative stress in C. perfringens and are probably responsible for the production of NADPH, which is required for maintenance of the intracellular redox balance in growth-arrested cells. Other Tn916 disrupted genes were also shown to play important roles in the oxidative stress response. This is the first time that some of these genes (e.g., a gene encoding an ATP-dependent RNA helicase, the ß-glucuronidase gene, and the gene encoding the atypical iron sulfur prismane protein) have been shown to be involved in the oxidative response.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Unité de Génétique Moléculaire Bactérienne, Institut Pasteur, 25 rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris Cédex 15, France. Phone: 33 1 45 68 83 08. Fax: 33 1 40 61 35 83. E-mail: greysset{at}pasteur.fr.

Journal of Bacteriology, May 2002, p. 2333-2343, Vol. 184, No. 9
0021-9193/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.184.9.2333-2343.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
Appl. Environ. Microbiol. Infect. Immun. Eukaryot. Cell
Mol. Cell. Biol. J. Virol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev.
ALL ASM JOURNALS

Copyright © 2002 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.