Strain differentiation of Clostridium perfringens by bacteriocin typing, plasmid profiling and ribotyping

Bacteriocin typing, plasmid profiling and ribotyping were used to type 34 food and patient Clostridium perfringens isolates from 10 food poisoning cases, respectively, outbreaks. In nine cases/outbreaks bacteriocin patterns showed identical main groups. Subgroups differed within all cases/outbreaks. Plasmid profiles were identical for all isolates within each of three outbreaks. In eight food poisoning cases and outbreaks, all the ribotypes of each food and stool isolate were found to be identical. All three typing methods give valuable results for the characterization of C. perfringens beyond the species level. Bacteriocin typing represents a suitable addition to plasmid typing, particularly since the results do not show any correlation between losses of plasmids and changes in bacteriocin sensitivity patterns. Ribotyping was found to be a suitable tool to determine the genetic relationship of C. perfringens isolates in the context of food-borne poisoning.