Clostridium histolyticum

Clostridium histolyticum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Division:	Firmicutes
Class:	Clostridia
Family:	Clostridiaceae
Genus:	Clostridium
Species:	Cl. histolyticum
Binomial name
Clostridium histolyticum (Weinberg and Séguin 1916) Bergey, Harrison, Breed, Hammer, and Huntoon 1923

Clostridium histolyticum (or CLOHI) is an anaerobic, motile, gram-positive bacterium that thrives in feces and soil. The ammonia and proteases it produces, including several collagenases, digest proteins outside its body into amino acids, which it eats. When Cl. histolyticum infects an open wound, it can also necrotize tissue for consumption by secreting an exotoxin that induces cytolysis.

In the mid-1910s, Michel Weinberg and Pierre Séguin found this species to be the primary pathogen in cases of gas gangrene. After isolating the bacteria from patients suffering from this condition, Weinberg and Séguin originally classified Cl. histolyticum as a member of the genus Bacillus. Heller renamed the species Weinbergillus histolyticus in 1922, and in the following year Bergey, Harrison, et al. reclassified it as a Clostridium species.

Collagenase clostridium histolyticum, a collagenase produced by this species, is applied for the medical treatment of chronic conditions characterized by excessive collagen deposition.

See also

• Chemoorganotroph

References

• Oakley, C.L.; Warrack, G. Harriet (14 January 1950), "The Alpha, Beta and Gamma Antigens of Clostridium histolyticum (Weinberg & Séguin, 1916)" (PDF), Journal of General Microbiology 4: 365–373, http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/4/3/365.pdf 
• MeSH Clostridium histolyticum
• Clostridium histolyticum: Weinberg and Séguin, 1916 at National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website.
• UniProt. "Clostridium histolyticum" (HTML). http://beta.uniprot.org/taxonomy/1498. Retrieved 2011-01-18.