Genome-wide transcriptional profiling of Clostridium perfringens SM101 during sporulation

In this study we focus on the identification of new genes tentatively involved in sporulation and those that influence properties of spores and their ability to germinate. To this end, the sporulation stages of C. perfringens enterotoxic strain SM101 were characterized based on morphological characteristics and biological indicators. Subsequently, whole genome expression profiling during key stages of the sporulation process was performed using DNA microarrays, and genes were clustered based on their time-course expression profiles during sporulation. The majority of previously characterized C. perfringens germination genes showed upregulated expression profiles in time during sporulation and mainly belonged to two clusters of genes. Loop design for two indepedantly perfromed experiments (biological replicates, A or B), each of which contains five time points (T1-T5). Cy3- and Cy5-labeled cDNA of the same RNA sample were hybridized 2 to 3 times (techical replicates) on Agilent custom microarrays.