Application of High-Density DNA Resequencing Microarray for Detection and Characterization of Botulinum Neurotoxin-Producing Clostridia

Jessica Vanhomwegen (1) , Nicolas Berthet (2) , Christelle Mazuet (3) , Ghislaine Guigon (4) , Tatiana Vallaeys (5) , Rayna Stamboliyska (6) , Philippe Dubois (1) , Giulia Kennedy (7) , Stewart Cole (8) , Valerie Caro (4) , Jean-Claude Manuguerra (1) , Michel-Robert Popoff (3) , Valé Rie Caro

1 CIBU - Cellule d'Intervention Biologique d'Urgence - Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats
2 EPVO (UMR_3569 / U-Pasteur_3) - Epidémiologie et Physiopathologie des Virus Oncogènes
3 Bactéries anaérobies et Toxines
4 PF8 - Génotypage des Pathogènes et Santé Publique (Plate-forme)
5 ECOLAG - Ecosystèmes lagunaires : organisation biologique et fonctionnement
6 LMU - Ludwig Maximilian University [Munich]
7 Affymetrix
8 EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Clostridium botulinum and related clostridia express extremely potent toxins known as botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) that cause severe, potentially lethal intoxications in humans. These BoNT-producing bacteria are categorized in seven major toxinotypes (A through G) and several subtypes. The high diversity in nucleotide sequence and genetic organization of the gene cluster encoding the BoNT components poses a great challenge for the screening and characterization of BoNT-producing strains.

Keywords: Clostridium botulinum; Toxins; Neurotoxins; Sequence analysis; Microarrays; Clostridium; DNA sequence analysis; Botulinum toxin

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Toxicology; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Genetics

Jessica Vanhomwegen, Nicolas Berthet, Christelle Mazuet, Ghislaine Guigon, Tatiana Vallaeys, et al.. Application of High-Density DNA Resequencing Microarray for Detection and Characterization of Botulinum Neurotoxin-Producing Clostridia. PLoS ONE, 2013, 8 (6), pp.e67510. ⟨10.1371/journal.pone.0067510⟩. ⟨pasteur-01765377⟩