Dynamics of plc gene transcription and α-toxin production during growth of Clostridium perfringens strains with contrasting α-toxin production

The aim of the present study was to investigate transcription dynamics of the alpha-toxin-encoding pic gene relative to two housekeeping genes (gyrA and rplL) in batch cultures of three Clostridium perfringens strains with low, intermediate, and high levels of alpha-toxin production, respectively. The plc transcript level was always low in the low a-toxin producing strain. For the two other strains, plc transcription showed an inducible pattern and reached a maximum level in the late exponential growth phase. The transcription levels were however inversely correlated to alpha-toxin production for the two strains. We propose that this discrepancy is due to differences in pic translation rates between the strains and that strain-specific translational rates therefore must be determined before alpha-toxin production can be extrapolated from transcript levels in C. perfringens. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.