  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 animals and is the most potent toxin known to humankind, natural or synthetic, with a lethal dose of less than 1 Î¼g in humans.(2010). chapter 29. clostridium, peptostreptococcus, bacteroides, and other anaerobes. in ryan k.j., ray c (eds), sherris medical microbiology, 5th ed. isbn 978-0071604024 c. botulinum is a diverse group of 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 allow for survival in adverse conditions. ==microbiology== 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 (sod) 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 
Bacteria Botulism Clostridiaceae Gram-positive_bacteria Neurotoxins