U.K. researchers detail genome of C. botulinum

Good news from the botulinum poisoning front. Researchers at the U.K.-based Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have detailed the genome sequence of C. botulinum, an effort that helps explains the genetic differences between the various types of clostridia — the class of bacteria to which C. botulinum belongs. “It is astonishing that 43 percent of the predicted genes in the C. botulinum genome are absent from the other five sequenced clostridia, and only 16 percent of the C. botulinum genes are common to all five,” said professor Mike Peck. “Our findings emphasise just how different clostridia are from each other.” In the case of C. botulinum, one key difference is that it contains a range of genes that allow it to attack the many insect and other small creatures that live in the soil. Now that the bacteria’s DNA has been fully sequenced, the hope is to use a system known as the ClosTron to knock out various genes within the bacteria in order to better understand the bacteria’s behavior. More than 110 of its set of almost 3700 genes are used to control spore formation and germination.