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Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive, rod shaped bacterium that produces the neurotoxin botulin, which causes the flaccid muscular paralysis seen in botulism. It is also the main paralytic agent in botox. It is an anaerobic spore-former, which produces oval, subterminal endospores and is commonly found in soil. In laboratory the microorganism is usually isolated in Tryptose Sulfite Cycloserine (TSC) growth media, always in an anaerobic environment with less than 2% of Oxygen. This can be achieved by several commercial kits that use a chemical reaction to replace O2 with CO2 (E.J. GasPak System). C. botulinum is lipase negative microorganism, it grows between pH values of 4.8 and 7 and it can't use lactose as a primary carbon source, characteristics important during a biochemical identification.[2] Since 1953 all species producing the botulinum neurotoxins (types A-G) has been designated C. botulinum. Substantial phenotypic and genotypic evidence exist to demonstrate heterogeneity within the species. This has led to the reclassification of C. botulinum type-G strains to a new species Clostridium argentinense.[5] The complete genome of C. botulinum has now been sequenced Sanger.
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Clostridium Botulinum Subcategories
Clostridium Botulinum Articles
Botulism - The Rare but Potentially Fatal Foodborne Illness
by Jonni Good
Jul 16, 2007
All my life I've been a little fearful of eating home-canned beans, because of the rare but potentially fatal illness caused by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium. The botulinum toxin produced by this bacterium is one of the most lethal natural toxi...
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