This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Weiss, K. F. Articles by Strong, D. H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Weiss, K. F. Articles by Strong, D. H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

J Bacteriol. 1967 January; 93(1): 21-26
Copyright © 1967 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Some Properties of Heat-Resistant and Heat-Sensitive Strains of Clostridium perfringens I. Heat Resistance and Toxigenicity¹

^a Department of Foods and Nutrition, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

ABSTRACT

Heat resistance at 100 C (D-values), sporulating ratios, toxigenicity for mice, and lecithinase activity (as micrograms per milliliter of enzyme, ascertained by the lecithovitellin reaction) were determined for four strains of Clostridium perfringens. A definite inverse relationship between thermal resistance and toxigenicity was found. The D-values ranged from 17.6 for the most heat-resistant strain to 0.3 for the strain possessing the least heat resistance, with corresponding lecithinase activities from 25 to 133 µg/ml of enzyme. The sporulating ratios did not differ greatly between the strains. The heat stability of the toxin was greater at 100 C than at 75 C. There was a noticeable difference between the heat stabilities of the toxin in the culture fluids of the heat-sensitive and heat-resistant strains at pH 7.0 when the toxic filtrates were held at 100 C. At a holding temperature of 75 C, a similar but lesser difference was observed at pH 5.5. Heat resistance and lecithinase activity did not change when a substrain of the least heat-resistant parent strain was obtained through heat selection by a single transfer, or when the most heat-resistant strain was transferred serially 12 times.

¹ Published with the permission of the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison, Wis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Amimoto, K., Noro, T., Oishi, E., Shimizu, M. (2007). A novel toxin homologous to large clostridial cytotoxins found in culture supernatant of Clostridium perfringens type C. Microbiology 153: 1198-1206 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Sarker, M. R., Shivers, R. P., Sparks, S. G., Juneja, V. K., McClane, B. A. (2000). Comparative Experiments To Examine the Effects of Heating on Vegetative Cells and Spores of Clostridium perfringens Isolates Carrying Plasmid Genes versus Chromosomal Enterotoxin Genes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66: 3234-3240 [Abstract] [Full Text]