Cross-complementation of Clostridium perfringens PLC and Clostridium septicum α-toxin mutants reveals PLC is sufficient to mediate gas gangrene

Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium septicum are the most common causes of clostridial myonecrosis or gas gangrene. Although they mediate a similar disease pathology, they elaborate functionally very different α-toxins. We used a reciprocal complementation approach to assess the contribution of the primary toxin of each species to disease and found that C. perfringens α-toxin (PLC) was able to mediate the gross pathology of myonecrosis even in a C. septicum background, although it could not induce vascular leukostasis. Conversely, while C. septicum α-toxin restored some virulence to a C. perfringens plc mutant, it was less active than in its native background.