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Genetics of Clostridium difficile Toxins

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Book cover Clostridium difficile

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 250))

Abstract

Up until the time it was implicated as the cause of pseudomembranous colitis (PMC), C. difficile was an almost unknown species of bacteria. The organism was first isolated from healthy newborn infants in 1935 by Hall and O’Toole, who named it Bacillus difficilis after the apparent difficulty they encountered in its isolation (Hall and O’Toole 1935). The organism produced a toxic culture filtrate which was lethal to animals upon injection. Perhaps due to the fact that the organism did not appear to cause disease, few studies followed its initial discovery. Over 40 years later, in 1977, C. difficile was implicated as the cause of a lethal colitis that resulted from treatment with antibiotics. The discovery resulted from the finding that antisera to C. sordellii neutralized toxic activity found in fecal filtrates from patients with antibiotic-associated colitis. Curiously, however, C. sordellü could not be isolated from the patients. C. difficile, on the other hand, had been isolated previously from many patients, but had been ignored since it was “nonpathogenic”. Further investigation showed that toxic activity in culture filtrates from C. difficile was neutralized by C. sordellii antisera. Thus the fortuitous cross-neutralizing activity of C. sordellii antisera led to the discovery of C.difficile as the cause of antibiotic-associated colitis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fralin Biotechnology Centre, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, West Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0346, USA

    J. S. Moncrief & T. D. Wilkins

  2. TechLab Inc., VPI Research Park, 1861 Pratt Drive, Blacksburg, VA, 24060-6364, USA

    J. S. Moncrief & T. D. Wilkins

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  1. J. S. Moncrief
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  2. T. D. Wilkins
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  1. Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 5, 79104, Freiburg i. Br., Germany

    Klaus Aktories

  2. Virginia Tech, Fralin Biotechnology Center, West Campus Drive, MC 0346, 24061, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Tracy D. Wilkins (Director of Biotechnology) (Director of Biotechnology)

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© 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Moncrief, J.S., Wilkins, T.D. (2000). Genetics of Clostridium difficile Toxins. In: Aktories, K., Wilkins, T.D. (eds) Clostridium difficile. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 250. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06272-2_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06272-2_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08668-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-06272-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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