Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26941734›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in microbiology2016

Effects of Megaplasmid Loss on Growth of Neurotoxigenic Clostridium butyricum Strains and Botulinum Neurotoxin Type E Expression.

Concetta Scalfaro, Angelo Iacobino, Laura Grande, Stefano Morabito, Giovanna Franciosa

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
0.7field-weighted citation impact, top 28% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The role ofFrontiers in immunology · 2026
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  3. Opportunistic Features of Non-Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
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  4. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Concetta ScalfaroUnit of Foodborne Zoonoses, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità Rome, Italy.
Angelo IacobinoUnit of Foodborne Zoonoses, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di SanitàRome, Italy; Unit of Systemic Bacterial Infections, Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di SanitàRome, Italy.
Laura GrandeUnit of Foodborne Zoonoses, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità Rome, Italy.
Stefano MorabitoUnit of Foodborne Zoonoses, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità Rome, Italy.
Giovanna FranciosaUnit of Foodborne Zoonoses, Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità Rome, Italy.
Istituto Superiore di Sanità · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Clostridium butyricum strains that atypically produce the botulinum neurotoxin type E (BoNT/E) possess a megaplasmid of unknown functions in their genome. In this study, we cured two botulinum neurotoxigenic C. butyricum type E strains of their megaplasmids, and compared the obtained megaplasmid-cured strains to their respective wild-type parental strains. Our results showed that the megaplasmids do not confer beta-lactam resistance on the neurotoxigenic C. butyricum type E strains, although they carry several putative beta-lactamase genes. Instead, we found that the megaplasmids are essential for growth of the neurotoxigenic C. butyricum type E strains at the relatively low temperature of 15°C, and are also relevant for growth of strains under limiting pH and salinity conditions, as well as under favorable environmental conditions. Moreover, the presence of the megaplasmids was associated with increased transcript levels of the gene encoding BoNT/E in the C. butyricum type E strains, indicating that the megaplasmids likely contain transcriptional regulators. However, the levels of BoNT/E in the supernatants of the cured and uncured strains were similar after 24 and 48 h culture, suggesting that expression of BoNT/E in the C. butyricum type E strains is not ultimately controlled by the megaplasmids. Together, our results reveal that the C. butyricum type E megaplasmids exert pleiotropic effects on the growth of their microbial hosts under optimal and limiting environmental conditions, and also highlight the possibility of original regulatory mechanisms controlling the expression of BoNT/E.

Indexed as

botulinum neurotoxin expressionmegaplasmidmicrobial growthneurotoxigenic Clostridium butyricum type EPFGEplasmid curingRTq-PCR

Identifiers

PMID26941734
PMCPMC4766289
OpenAlexW2332961905

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.