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The genome sequence of Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus disease.

ABSTRACT: Tetanus disease is one of the most dramatic and globally prevalent diseases of humans and vertebrate animals, and has been reported for over 24 centuries. The manifestation of the disease, spastic paralysis, is caused by the second most poisonous substance known, the tetanus toxin, with a human lethal dose of approximately 1 ng/kg. Fortunately, this disease is successfully controlled through immunization with tetanus toxoid; nevertheless, according to the World Health Organization, an estimated 400,000 cases still occur each year, mainly of neonatal tetanus. The causative agent of tetanus disease is Clostridium tetani, an anaerobic spore-forming bacterium, whose natural habitat is soil, dust, and intestinal tracts of various animals. Here we report the complete genome sequence of toxigenic C. tetani E88, a variant of strain Massachusetts. The genome consists of a 2,799,250-bp chromosome encoding 2,372 ORFs. The tetanus toxin and a collagenase are encoded on a 74,082-bp plasmid, containing 61 ORFs. Additional virulence-related factors could be identified, such as an array of surface-layer and adhesion proteins (35 ORFs), some of them unique to C. tetani. Comparative genomics with the genomes of Clostridium perfringens, the causative agent of gas gangrene, and Clostridium acetobutylicum, a nonpathogenic solvent producer, revealed a remarkable capacity of C. tetani: The organism can rely on an extensive sodium ion bioenergetics. Additional candidate genes involved in the establishment and maintenance of a pathogenic lifestyle of C. tetani are presented.

SUBMITTER: Bruggemann H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC298770 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The genome sequence of Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus disease.

Bruggemann Holger H Baumer Sebastian S Fricke Wolfgang Florian WF Wiezer Arnim A Liesegang Heiko H Decker Iwona I Herzberg Christina C Martinez-Arias Rosa R Merkl Rainer R Henne Anke A Gottschalk Gerhard G

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20030127 3

Tetanus disease is one of the most dramatic and globally prevalent diseases of humans and vertebrate animals, and has been reported for over 24 centuries. The manifestation of the disease, spastic paralysis, is caused by the second most poisonous substance known, the tetanus toxin, with a human lethal dose of approximately 1 ng/kg. Fortunately, this disease is successfully controlled through immunization with tetanus toxoid; nevertheless, according to the World Health Organization, an estimated ...[more]

PMID: 12552129

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Project description:Clostridium tetani produces a potent neurotoxin, the tetanus toxin (TeNT), which is responsible for an often-fatal neurological disease (tetanus) characterized by spastic paralysis. Prevention is efficiently acquired by vaccination with the TeNT toxoid, which is obtained by C. tetani fermentation and subsequent purification and chemical inactivation. C. tetani synthesizes TeNT in a regulated manner. Indeed, the TeNT gene (tent) is mainly expressed in the late exponential and early stationary growth phases. The gene tetR (tetanus regulatory gene), located immediately upstream of tent, encodes an alternative sigma factor which was previously identified as a positive regulator of tent. In addition, the genome of C. tetani encodes more than 127 putative regulators, including 30 two-component systems (TCSs). Here, we investigated the impact of 12 regulators on TeNT synthesis which were selected based on their homology with related regulatory elements involved in toxin production in other clostridial species. Among nine TCSs tested, three of them impact TeNT production, including two positive regulators that indirectly stimulate tent and tetR transcription. One negative regulator was identified that interacts with both tent and tetR promoters. Two other TCSs showed a moderate effect: one binds to the tent promoter and weakly increases the extracellular TeNT level, and another one has a weak inverse effect. In addition, CodY (control of dciA (decoyinine induced operon) Y) but not Spo0A (sporulation stage 0) or the DNA repair protein Mfd (mutation frequency decline) positively controls TeNT synthesis by interacting with the tent promoter. Moreover, we found that inorganic phosphate and carbonate are among the environmental factors that control TeNT production. Our data show that TeNT synthesis is under the control of a complex network of regulators that are largely distinct from those involved in the control of toxin production in Clostridium botulinum or Clostridium difficile.

Project description:Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum produce two of the most potent neurotoxins known, tetanus neurotoxin and botulinum neurotoxin, respectively. Extensive biochemical and genetic investigation has been devoted to identifying and characterizing various C. botulinum strains. Less effort has been focused on studying C. tetani likely because recently sequenced strains of C. tetani show much less genetic diversity than C. botulinum strains and because widespread vaccination efforts have reduced the public health threat from tetanus. Our aim was to acquire genomic data on the U.S. vaccine strain of C. tetani to better understand its genetic relationship to previously published genomic data from European vaccine strains. We performed high throughput genomic sequence analysis on two wild-type and two vaccine C. tetani strains. Comparative genomic analysis was performed using these and previously published genomic data for seven other C. tetani strains. Our analysis focused on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and four distinct constituents of the mobile genome (mobilome): a hypervariable flagellar glycosylation island region, five conserved bacteriophage insertion regions, variations in three CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) systems, and a single plasmid. Intact type IA and IB CRISPR/Cas systems were within 10 of 11 strains. A type IIIA CRISPR/Cas system was present in two strains. Phage infection histories derived from CRISPR-Cas sequences indicate C. tetani encounters phages common among commensal gut bacteria and soil-borne organisms consistent with C. tetani distribution in nature. All vaccine strains form a clade distinct from currently sequenced wild type strains when considering variations in these mobile elements. SNP, flagellar glycosylation island, prophage content and CRISPR/Cas phylogenic histories provide tentative evidence suggesting vaccine and wild type strains share a common ancestor.

Dataset Information

The genome sequence of Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus disease.

Publications

The genome sequence of Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus disease.

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