Cloning, nucleotide sequence, and expression of the gene encoding the bacteriocin boticin B from Clostridium botulinum strain 213B

Boticin B is a heat-stable bacteriocin produced by Clostridium botulinum strain 213B that has inhibitory activity against various strains of C, botulinum and related clostridia, The gene encoding the bacteriocin was localized to a 3.0-kb HindIII fragment of an 18.8-kb plasmid, cloned, and sequenced. DNA sequencing revealed the boticin B structural gene, btcB, to be an open reading frame encoding 50 amino acids. A C, botulinum strain 62A transconjugant containing the HindIII fragment inserted into a clostridial shuttle vector expressed boticin B, although at much lower levels than those observed in C, botulinum 213B, To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration and characterization of a bacteriocin from toxigenic group I C. botulinum.