Fabrício Moreira Cerri, Roberta Martins Basso, Amanda Haisi, João Pessoa Araújo, José Paes de Oliveira-Filho, Luis G Arroyo, Alexandre Secorun Borges
Clostridium tetani, the causative agent of tetanus, is an important pathogen in human and veterinary medicine. This study characterized three C. tetani isolates from black vultures (Coragyps atratus) in Brazil, using whole-genome sequencing. The chromosomal and plasmid genomes were highly conserved, showing low SNP variability among the isolates. ANI and dDDH analyses confirmed that all isolates belonged to C. tetani. Virulence-associated genes (TeNT, colT, and tly) were detected in all isolates. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that these isolates were closely related to strains recovered from food and human clinical sources.