Oxidative stress response in Clostridium perfringens

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Abstract
Clostridium perfringens, a strictly anaerobic bacterium, is able to survive when exposed to oxygen for short periods of time and exhibits a complex adaptive response to reactive oxygen species, both under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. However, this adaptive response is not completely understood.C. perfringenspossesses specialized genes that might be involved in this adaptive process, such as those encoding superoxide dismutase (SOD), superoxide reductase and alkyl hydroperoxide reductase, but their contribution to the oxidative stress response and their control mechanisms are unknown. By a combination of functional complementation ofEscherichia colistrains impaired in either SOD, alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (AhpC) or catalase activity (Cat), transcription analysis and characterization of mutants impaired in regulatory genes, it was concluded that: (i) the product of thesodgene is certainly essential to scavenge superoxide radicals, (ii) theahpCgene, which is fully induced in all oxidative stress conditions, is probably involved in the scavenging of all intracellular peroxides, (iii) the three rubrerythrin (rbr) genes ofC. perfringensdo not encode proteins within vivoH2O2reductase activity, and (iv) the two rubredoxin (rub) genes do not contribute to the hypothetical superoxide reductase activity, but are likely to belong to an electron transfer chain involved in energy metabolism.