AUTHOR=Zafar Khan Muhammad Umar , Khalid Shumaila , Humza Muhammad , Yang Shunli , Alvi Mughees Aizaz , Munir Tahir , Ahmad Waqar , Iqbal Muhammad Zahid , Tahir Muhammad Farooq , Liu Yongsheng , Zhang Jie 

TITLE=Infection Dynamics of Clostridium perfringens Fingerprinting in Buffalo and Cattle of Punjab Province, Pakistan

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2022.762449

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2022.762449

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Clostridium perfringens</italic> produces core virulence factors that are responsible for causing hemorrhagic abomasitis and enterotoxemia making food, animals, and humans susceptible to its infection. In this study, <italic>C. perfringens</italic> was isolated from necropsied intestinal content of buffalo and cattle belonging to four major bovine-producing regions in the Punjab Province of Pakistan for the purpose offind out the genetic variation. Out of total 160 bovine samples (<italic>n</italic>: 160), thirty-three (<italic>n</italic>: 33) isolates of <italic>C. perfringens</italic> were obtained from buffalo (<italic>Bubales bubalis</italic>) and cattle (<italic>Bos indicus</italic>) that were further subjected to biochemical tests; 16S rRNA based identification and toxinotyping was done using PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and PFGE (Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis) pulsotypesfor genetic diversity. Occurrence of <italic>C. perfringens</italic> was found to be maximum in zone-IV (Bhakkar and Dera Ghazi Khan) according to the heatmap. Correlation was found to be significant and positive among the toxinotypes (α<italic>-toxin</italic>, and ε<italic>-toxin</italic>). Response surface methodology (RSM) <italic>via</italic> central composite design (CCD) and Box-Behnken design (BBD) demonstrated substantial frequency of <italic>C. perfringens</italic> based toxinotypes in all sampling zones. PFGE distinguished all isolates into 26 different pulsotypes using <italic>SmaI</italic> subtyping. Co-clustering analysis based on PFGE further decoded a diversegenetic relationship among the collected isolates. This study could help us to advance toward disease array of <italic>C. perfringens</italic> and its probable transmission and control. This study demonstrates PFGE patterns from Pakistan, and typing of <italic>C. perfringens</italic> by PFGE helps illustrate and mitigate the incidence of running pulsotypes.</p>