Detection of Clostridium botulinum Type C Cells in the Gastrointestinal Tracts of Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) by Polymerase Chain Reaction

Authors

• P. Nol, USGS National Wildlife Health Center
• J.L. Williamson, USGS National Wildlife Health Center
• T.E. Rocke, USGS National Wildlife Health Center
• T.M. Yuill, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

October 2004

Comments

Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 40(4), 2004, pp. 749–753. © Wildlife Disease Association 2004. Permission to use.

Abstract

We established a method of directly detecting Clostridium botulinum type C cells, while minimizing spore detection, in the intestinal contents of Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). This technique involved extraction of predominantly cellular DNA from tilapia intestinal tracts and used a polymerase chain reaction assay to detect presence of type C₁ toxin gene. We consistently detected C. botulinum type C cells in tilapia gastrointestinal contents at a level of 7.5310⁴ cells per 0.25 g material or 1.9310³ cells. This technique is useful for determining prevalence of the potentially active organisms within a given population of fish and may be adapted to other types of C. botulinum and vertebrate populations as well.