Transcriptomic analysis of (Group I) Clostridium botulinum ATCC 3502 cold shock response

Profound understanding of the mechanisms foodborne pathogenic bacteria utilize in adaptation to the environmental stress they encounter during food processing and storage is of paramount importance in design of control measures. Chill temperature is a central control measure applied in minimally processed foods; however, data on the mechanisms the foodborne pathogen Clostridium botulinum activates upon cold stress are scarce. Global gene expression analysis on the C. botulinum ATCC 3502 strain upon temperature downshift from 37 °C to 15 °C was performed to identify the cold-responsive gene set of this organism. Significant up- or down-regulation of 16 and 11 genes, respectively, was observed already 1 h after the cold shock. At 5 h after the temperature downshift, 199 and 210 genes were up- and down-regulated, respectively. Thus, the cold shock rapidly affected the expression of a gene set of a relatively small size, indicating a targeted acute response to cold shock, whereas extensive metabolic remodeling took place after prolonged exposure to cold. Induction of genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis, oxidative stress response, and iron uptake and storage was observed, in addition to mechanisms previously characterized as cold-tolerance related in bacteria. Furthermore, induction of several uncharacterized DNA-binding transcriptional regulator-encoding genes was observed, suggesting involvement of novel regulatory mechanisms in the cold shock response of C. botulinum. The role of such regulatory proteins, CBO0477 and CBO0558A, in cold tolerance of C. botulinum ATCC 3502 was demonstrated by the deteriorated growth of mutants of the respective genes at 17 °C. C. botulinum ATCC 3502 wild type cold-shocked vs. pre-cold-shock; 3 replicates; growth at 37C in TPGY broth batch culture and subjected to cold shock to 15C; sampling at mid-log growth phase before cold shock, and 1 h and 5 h after temperature downshift to 15C (= 3 time points). Dye-swapped hybridization.