Effect of metallic tons on the growth, morphology, and metabolism of Clostridium perfringens. I. Magnesium

Enzymes of glucose and pyruvate catabolism in cells, spores, and germinated spores of Clostridium botulinum

Simmons, R. J. (Michigan State University, East Lansing), and R. N. Costilow. Enzymes of glucose and pyruvate catabolism in cells, spores, and germinated spores of Clostridium botulinum. J. Bacteriol. 84:1274-1281. 1962.-An investigation was made of the enzymes of vegetative cells, spores, and germinated spores of Clostridium botulinum 62-A to elucidate a pathway of glucose metabolism. Manometric studies were conducted with intact cells, and various enzymes and enzyme systems were assayed in cell-free and spore-free extracts by use of spectrophotometric and colorimetric procedures. Glucose fermentation was found to be inducible; glucokinase was the controlling enzyme. All other enzymes of the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway were found in both induced and non-induced cells, but they were in relatively low concentrations in the latter. This, plus the fact that no glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was detected, led to the conclusion that glucose is catabolized primarily by the EMP system. A number of glycolytic enzymes were also found in extracts of spores and germinated spores of this organism, but the activities were extremely low as compared with activities in cell extracts. A phosphoroclastic-type reaction was readily demonstrated in both glucose-adapted and non-adapted cells, but not in spores and germinated spores. However, both acetokinase and phosphotransacetylase, as well as coenzyme A transphorase, were detected in spores and germinated-spore extracts, although at very low activity levels as compared with cell extracts. The specific activity of diaphorase in spore extracts was about one-half that of corresponding cell extracts, and the activity of reduced diphosphopyridine nucleotide (DPNH) oxidase was actually higher in the spore extracts. In addition, the DPNH oxidase in spore extracts was considerably more heat-stable than that in extracts of cells or germinated spores.

PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CLOSTRIDIUM PERFRINGENS “BURSTING FACTOR”

Fredette , V. (University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada), A. Forget, and G. Vinet . Production and characterization of Clostridium perfringens “bursting factor.” J. Bacteriol. 83: 1177–1182. 1962.—Virulent cultures of Clostridium perfringens in which none of the presently known toxic or enzymatic fractions could be detected either in vitro or in vivo were shown to contain “bursting factor.” This new antigen, although devoid of toxicity, exerts a triggerlike or aggressinlike action on washed perfringens bacilli, a characteristic which sets it apart from collagenase or kappa-toxin with which it could have been confused previously. Pathogenesis of C. perfringens gas gangrene can therefore be explained more satisfactorily with the “bursting factor” than with any previously known fraction from the filtrates of these cultures.