Editing Clostridium perfringens (section)

== Motility ==
''Clostridium perfringens'' is provisionally identified as non-motile. They lack flagella; however, recent research suggests gliding as a form of motility.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Valeriani |first1=Renzo G. |last2=Beard |first2=LaMonta L. |last3=Moller |first3=Abraham |last4=Ohtani |first4=Kaori |last5=Vidal |first5=Jorge E. |date=2020-12-01 |title=Gas gangrene-associated gliding motility is regulated by the Clostridium perfringens CpAL/VirSR system |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1075996420301438 |journal=Anaerobe |volume=66 |pages=102287 |doi=10.1016/j.anaerobe.2020.102287 |pmid=33130105 |issn=1075-9964|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Hyper-motile variations ===
[[File:21913 lores.jpg|thumb|248x248px|This illustration depicts a three-dimensional (3D), computer-generated image of a cluster of barrel-shaped, ''Clostridium perfringens'' bacteria. The artistic recreation was based upon scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imagery.]]
In agar plate cultures bacteria with hypermotile variations like SM101 frequently appear around the borders of the colonies. They create long thin filaments that enable them to move quickly, much like bacteria with flagella, according to video imaging of their gliding motion. The causes of the hypermotile phenotype and its immediate descendants were found using genome sequencing. The hypermotile offspring of strains SM101 and SM102, SM124 and SM127, respectively, had 10 and 6 nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in comparison to their parent strains. The hypermotile strains have the common trait of gene mutations related to cell division.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Hualan |last2=McCord |first2=Kristin D. |last3=Howarth |first3=Jonathon |last4=Popham |first4=David L. |last5=Jensen |first5=Roderick V. |last6=Melville |first6=Stephen B. |date=July 2014 |title=Hypermotility in Clostridium perfringens Strain SM101 Is Due to Spontaneous Mutations in Genes Linked to Cell Division |journal=Journal of Bacteriology |volume=196 |issue=13 |pages=2405–2412 |doi=10.1128/JB.01614-14 |issn=0021-9193 |pmc=4054169 |pmid=24748614}}</ref>

=== Regulation of gliding motility: The CpAL/VirSR system ===
Some strains of ''C. perfringens'' cause various diseases like gas gangrene and myonecrosis. Toxins produced that are required for myonecrosis is regulated by the ''C. perfringens'' Agr-like (CpAl) system through the VirSR two-component system. The CpAL/VirSR system is a quorum sensing system encoded by other pathogenic clostridia. Myonecrosis starts at the infection site and involves bacteria migrating deeper via gliding motility. Researchers investigated if the CpAL/VirSR system regulates gliding motility. The study demonstrated that the CpAL/VirSR regulates ''C. perfringens'' gliding motility. Additionally, the study suggests that gliding bacteria in myonecrosis have&nbsp;increased transcription of toxin genes.<ref name=":1" />