Study of Plasmid Profiling of Clostridium perfringens Isolated from Small Ruminants of Odisha

In the present study 209 intestinal and faecal samples of small ruminants were collected from different farms and localities in and around Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Out of which 159 samples were of goats and 50 samples of sheep, it includes both intestinal and faecal samples. The collected samples were processed for plasmid profiling of C. perfringens. A total of 19 samples were found positive for C. perfringens indicating the prevalence of 9.09% in small ruminant population of Odisha. In order to study the epidemiological strain variation, all the present isolates were subjected to plasmid profiling. Plasmid profiling of the local isolates is an important tool for strain related identification of disease in sheep and goat. In this study plasmid DNA yield was low, as for high yield large amount of fresh C. perfringens culture was needed, but an attempt has been carried out for plasmid curing. Effect of various parameters like different percentage of gel, running buffer and temperature were done and it was found that 0.7% agarose gel, TBE buffer at 30oC of temperature were optimum condition for plasmid profiling. The present study showed that DNase activity remains a block in the plasmid isolation and profiling of Clostridial species. Therefore need for a DNase inhibitor that may increase the efficacy of plasmid curing.