BACKGROUND Norwegian meadows, including those for silage production, are recently found heavily invaded by the slug Arion vulgaris in exposed areas. As a consequence, large numbers of slugs might contaminate grass silage and cause a possible threat to animal feed quality and safety. It is well known that silage contaminated by mammalian or avian carcasses can lead to severe outbreaks of botulis...

Production of botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT/A) and associated non-toxic proteins (ANTPs), which include a non-toxic non-haemagglutinin (NTNH/A) as well as haemagglutinins (HAs), was found previously to be dependent upon an RNA polymerase alternative sigma factor (BotR/A). Expression of the botR/A, bont/A and antp genes, monitored by reverse transcription and real-time PCR analysis, occurred conc...

Purification of progenitor toxin of Clostridium botulinum type B strain Okra was undertaken by sequential steps of acid precipitation, extraction, ammonium sulfate precipitation, ribonuclease digestion, acid precipitation, protamine treatment, sulphopropyl-Sephadex chromatography, and Sephadex G-200 gel filtration. Two different molecular-sized toxins, named large (L) and medium (M) toxins, wer...

The isolation of Clostridium botulinurn type A toxin in crystalline form (1, 2) has led to an interest in its chemical composition. An apparently complete analysis of the pure crystalline toxin is presented in this paper. Preliminary studies have indicated that the toxin is a protein with an isoelectric point of pH 5.6, possessing the properties of a globulin (l-3). It is free from carbohydrate...

Millipore diffusion chambers (MDC) with 0.22-mum filters loaded with spores or vegetative cells of Clostridium botulinum were surgically implanted intraperitoneally (ip) into guinea pigs. MDC expose C. botulinum spores or vegetative cells to body fluids yet protect them from phagocytes. Guinea pigs receiving MDC containing 10(9) spores plus 10(8) polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocytes and MDC with ...

A nonproteolytic, nontoxigenic Clostridium botulinum strain identified by conventional and molecular techniques as type B-, E-, or F-like (BEF-like) was isolated from a human postsurgical wound. All previous reports of such strains have been from environmental sources. Since toxin production is the main taxonomic denominator for C. botulinum, a new name is needed for nonproteolytic, nontoxigeni...

A significant number of genome sequences of Clostridium botulinum and related species have now been determined. In silico analysis of these data revealed the presence of two distinct agr loci (agr-1 and agr-2) in all group I strains, each encoding putative proteins with similarity to AgrB and AgrD of the well-studied Staphylococcus aureus agr quorum sensing system. In S. aureus, a small diffusi...