Toxinotyping of Clostridium perfringens strains isolated from packed chicken portions

Clostridium perfringens are classified into five toxin types A to E, on the basis of production of Alpha, Beta, Epsilon and Iota toxins. Some strains are able to produce enterotoxin, can cause food poisoning in human. The bacteria are able to produce NetB and TpeL toxins which are virulence factors in necrotic enteritis in poultry. The aim of this study was to determine the toxin profile of C. perfringens strains isolated from packed chicken portions using Single and Multiplex PCR assays. In a crossectional study, 180 sample of chicken portions including wing (n=50), liver (n=50), neck (n=50) and gizzard (n=30) were collected randomly and examined for C. perfringens contamination. For this purpose all of samples were cultured on the 7% sheep defibrinated blood agar, TSN and TSC culture media. All of the isolates were investigated for the presence of alpha, beta, epsilon, iota toxin and virulence (tpeL and netB) genes. In the present study, 6 isolates out of 180 samples, were confirmed as C. perfringens by culture and molecular methods. All of the isolates (100%) were confirmed as cpa and cpb positive strains and belong to type C of C. perfringens. The netB gene was detected in 5 isolates (83.33%) and tpeL gene in three isolates (50%). Our findings show the majority of C. perfringens in broilers are belong to type C which produce necrotic enteritis in poultry and may be transmitted to human through poultry products.