Clostridium

Clostridium acetobutylicum

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Clostridium aerotolerans

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Clostridium botulinum

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Clostridium colicanis

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Clostridium difficile

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Clostridium formicaceticum

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Clostridium novyi

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Clostridium perfringens

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Clostridium tetani

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etc.

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Clostridium is a large genus of Gram-positive bacteria, belonging to the Firmicutes. They are obligate anaerobes capable of produce endospores. Individual cells are rod-shaped, which gives them their name, from the Greek kloster or spindle. These characteristics traditionally defined the genus, but they are not phylogenetically significant, and many species originally classified as Clostridium have been moved elsewhere.

Related Topics:
Gram-positive - Firmicutes - Anaerobe - Endospore - Greek - Phylogenetically

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Clostridium includes common free-living bacteria as well as important pathogens. There are four main species responsible for disease in humans:

Related Topics:
Pathogen - Disease

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• C. botulinum, an organism producing a toxin in food that causes botulism.
• C. difficile, which can overgrow other bacteria in the gut during antibiotic therapy, causing pseudomembranous colitis.
• C. perfringens, which gets into wounds, and is an important cause of gas gangrene.
• C. tetani, the causitive organism of tetanus (lockjaw).

Other important species include C. acetobutylicum, also known as the Weizmann organism, which was first used by Chaim Weizmann to produce acetone and butanol from starch in 1916 for the production of gunpowder and TNT.

Related Topics:
C. acetobutylicum - Chaim Weizmann - Acetone - Butanol - Starch - 1916 - Gunpowder - TNT

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