‘Clostridium perfringens is one of the most widely dispersed opportunistic pathogens and is well known to produce a number of toxins to cause several forms of histotoxic and enteric diseases in humans and animals [2]. Based on the production of four major toxins i.e., alpha, beta, epsilon and iota, it is categorized into five toxin-types viz. A, B, C, D and E. While it is ambiguous why C. perfringens produces so many diverse toxins, it is well known that it uses chromosomally-encoded α-toxin (which has phospholipase C (plc) and sphingomyelinase activities with hemolytic, necrotic and lethal abilities) as a chief virulent factor and key mediator for most of C. perfringens-associated diseases.”

Standard curves representing the quantitative detection of reference strains of C. perfringens by Amp-qPCR assay. C. perfringens ATCC 13124^T, ATCC 9856, ATCC 3624, ATCC 3626, ATCC 12917, ATCC 14809, ATCC 27324, and CS 052–1 were cultivated separately in Glu-mGAM. DNA fractions were extracted from the culture samples in the early stationary phase (24 h), and bacterial counts were determined microscopically with DAPI staining. 10-fold serial dilutions of DNA corresponding to the bacterial counts ranging from 10⁰ to 10⁵ bacterial cells were assessed by 16S rRNA gene-specific a, plc-specific b, and cpe-specific c Amp-qPCR assays. The Cq values obtained were plotted against the log₁₀number of bacterial cells subjected to each reaction. Data are expressed as means and standard deviations of the results from 7 strains (ATCC 13124^T, ATCC 9856, ATCC 3624, ATCC 3626, ATCC 12917, ATCC 14809, and ATCC 27324) in the 16S rRNA gene-specific and plc-specific primer sets, and 3 strains (ATCC 12917, ATCC 14809, and CS 052–1) in the cpe-specific primer set