Bacterial spores of the genera Bacillus and Clostridium are extremely resistant against desiccation, heat and radiation and involved in the spread and pathogenicity of health relevant species such as Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) or Clostridium botulinum. While the resistance of spores is very well documented, underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study we show, by cryo-electro...

Botulism is a disease usually fatal, caused by the ingestion of neurotoxins produced Clostridium botulinum. In dogs, intoxication botulinum toxin type C, and animals often recover spontaneously. The present study describes occurrence C botulism in two dogs domiciled on neighboring rural properties municipality Goiânia, state Goiás, Brazil, probably associated with decomposing bovine carcass. Up...

E spores. This concentration is obtained by simple mixing of equal parts of absolute ethanol and the enrichment culture prepared as follows. When the presence of type E toxin was demonstrated in the suspect fish by titrations with mice, portions of the sample were cultured in duplicate tubes of cooked meat medium (CMM) prepared from fresh liver and Trypticase-peptoneglucose (TPG) broth (Schmidt...

Bacillus subtilis spores prepared in rich medium germinated faster with nutrient germinants than poor-medium spores as populations in liquid and multiple individual spores on a microscope slide. Poor-medium spores had longer average lag times between mixing of spores with nutrient germinants and initiation of Ca-dipicolinic acid (CaDPA) release. Rich-medium spores made at 37°C germinated slight...

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are produced by phenotypically and genetically different Clostridium species, including Clostridium botulinum and some strains of Clostridium baratii (serotype F) and Clostridium butyricum (serotype E). BoNT-producing clostridia responsible for human botulism encompass strains of group I (secreting proteases, producing toxin serotype A, B, or F, and growing optimal...

Botulism is diagnosed by detecting botulinum neurotoxin and Clostridium botulinum cells in the patient and in suspected food samples. In this study, a multiplex PCR assay for the detection of Clostridium botulinum types A, B, E, and F in food and fecal material was developed. The method employs four new primer pairs with equal melting temperatures, each being specific to botulinum neurotoxin ge...