Detection of the etx gene (epsilon-toxin inducer) in plasmids of high molecular weight in Clostridium perfringens type D

The purpose of this work is to correlate the production of E-toxin in a set of strains of Clostridium perfringens type D with the presence of the etx gene, either genomic or in plasmids. Total DNA obtained from strains with a different level of toxin production was explored by PCR and all the strain s showed the amplification signal. Different methods were used to obtain pl asmid profiles and all of the bands were assayed by PCR. The detection of t he etx gene was only shown in several high molecular plasmids. These result s were confirmed by a Southern blot. We suggest that the localization of th e err gene in different plasmids could be associated with the epsilon-toxin production level. (C) 1999 Published by Elevier Science B.V. All rights re served.