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Concept
Clostridia
Summary
The Clostridia are a highly polyphyletic class of Bacillota, including Clostridium and other similar genera. They are distinguished from the Bacilli by lacking aerobic respiration. They are obligate anaerobes and oxygen is toxic to them. Species of the class Clostridia are often but not always Gram-positive (see Halanaerobium) and have the ability to form spores. Studies show they are not a monophyletic group, and their relationships are not entirely certain. Currently, most are placed in a single order called Clostridiales, but this is not a natural group and is likely to be redefined in the future.
Most species of the genus Clostridium are saprophytic organisms that ferment plant polysaccharides and are found in many places in the environment, most notably the soil. However, the genus does contain some human pathogens (outlined below).
The toxins produced by certain members of the genus Clostridium are among the most dangerous known. Examples are tetanus toxin (known as tetanospasmin) produced by C. tetani and botulinum toxin produced by C. botulinum. Some species have been isolated from women with bacterial vaginosis.
Notable species of this class include:
Clostridium perfringens (gangrene, food poisoning)
Clostridioides difficile (pseudomembranous colitis)
Clostridium tetani (tetanus)
Clostridium botulinum (botulism)
Clostridium acetobutylicum (acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation, or ABE process)
Clostridium haemolyticum
Clostridium novyi (gas gangrene, infectious necrotic hepatitis)
Clostridium oedematiens (synonym of Clostridium novyi)
Clostridium phytofermentans (biomass fermentation)
Heliobacteria and Christensenella are also members of the class Clostridia.
Some of the enzymes produced by this group are used in bioremediation.
The currently accepted taxonomy based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN) and the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
Since they are commonly found in soils and in microbiota of humans and animals, Clostridia wounds and infections are found worldwide.
Official source
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Related concepts (7)
Gut microbiota
Gut microbiota, gut microbiome, or gut flora, are the microorganisms, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, that live in the digestive tracts of animals. The gastrointestinal metagenome is the aggregate of all the genomes of the gut microbiota. The gut is the main location of the human microbiome. The gut microbiota has broad impacts, including effects on colonization, resistance to pathogens, maintaining the intestinal epithelium, metabolizing dietary and pharmaceutical compounds, controlling immune function, and even behavior through the gut–brain axis.
Gas gangrene
Gas gangrene (also known as clostridial myonecrosis) is a bacterial infection that produces tissue gas in gangrene. This deadly form of gangrene usually is caused by Clostridium perfringens bacteria. About 1,000 cases of gas gangrene are reported yearly in the United States. Myonecrosis is a condition of necrotic damage, specific to muscle tissue. It is often seen in infections with C. perfringens or any of myriad soil-borne anaerobic bacteria. Bacteria cause myonecrosis by specific exotoxins.
Clostridioides difficile
Clostridioides difficile (syn. Clostridium difficile) is a bacterium that is well known for causing serious diarrheal infections, and may also cause colon cancer. It is known also as C. difficile, or C. diff (siː_dɪf), and is a Gram-positive species of spore-forming bacteria. Clostridioides spp. are anaerobic, motile bacteria, ubiquitous in nature and especially prevalent in soil. Its vegetative cells are rod-shaped, pleomorphic, and occur in pairs or short chains.