Clostridium botulinum
Channel: 宇宙のすべての知識 プリンシピア
Date: 2019-03-17

Clostridium botulinum, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=43922 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Botulism
#Gram-positive_bacteria
#Bacteria_described_in_1896
#Clostridium
Clostridium botulinum

Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming, motile bacterium with the ability to produce the neurotoxin botulinum.

The botulinum toxin can cause a severe flaccid paralytic disease in humans and other animals and is the most potent toxin known to mankind, natural or synthetic, with a lethal dose of 1.3–2.1 ng/kg in humans.

"C. botulinum" is a diverse group of pathogenic bacteria initially grouped together by their ability to produce botulinum toxin and now known as four distinct groups, "C. botulinum" groups I-IV. "C. botulinum" groups I-IV, as well as some strains of "Clostridium butyricum" and "Clostridium baratii", are the bacteria responsible for producing botulinum toxin.

"C. botulinum" is responsible for foodborne botulism (ingestion of preformed toxin), infant botulism (intestinal infection with toxin-forming "C. botulinum"), and wound botulism (infection of a wound with "C. botulinum"). "C. botulinum" produces heat-resistant endospores that are commonly found in soil and are able to survive under adverse conditions.

"C. botulinum" is commonly associated with bulging canned food; bulging, misshapen cans are due to an internal increase in pressure caused by gas produced by the bacteria.

"C. botulinum "is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, spore-forming bacterium. It is an obligate anaerobe, meaning that oxygen is poisonous to the cells. However, "C. botulinum" tolerates traces of oxygen due to the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which is an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen. "C. botulinum" is only able to produce the neurotoxin during sporulation, which can only happen in an anaerobic environment. Other bacterial species produce spores in an unfavorable growth environment to preserve the organism's viability...