TY - JOUR
T1 - Clostridium difficile spore biology
T2 - Sporulation, germination, and spore structural proteins
AU - Paredes-Sabja, Daniel
AU - Shen, Aimee
AU - Sorg, Joseph A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by grants from Fondo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología de Chile (FONDECYT Grant 1110569), the Research Office of Universidad Andres Bello (DI-275-R/13), and Fondo de Fomento al Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDEF) CA13I10077 to D.P.-S. A.S. is a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, and is supported by Award Number R00GM092934 and start-up funds from Award Number P20RR021905 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. J.A.S. acknowledges support from the American Heart Association National Scientist Development grant (No. 11SDG7160013) and support by Award Number R21AI07640 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of either the Pew Charitable Trusts, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or the National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, spore-forming obligate anaerobe and a major nosocomial pathogen of worldwide concern. Owing to its strict anaerobic requirements, the infectious and transmissible morphotype is the dormant spore. In susceptible patients, C. difficile spores germinate in the colon to form the vegetative cells that initiate Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). During CDI, C. difficile induces a sporulation pathway that produces more spores; these spores are responsible for the persistence of C. difficile in patients and horizontal transmission between hospitalized patients. Although important to the C. difficile lifecycle, the C. difficile spore proteome is poorly conserved when compared to members of the Bacillus genus. Further, recent studies have revealed significant differences between C. difficile and Bacillus subtilis at the level of sporulation, germination, and spore coat and exosporium morphogenesis. In this review, the regulation of the sporulation and germination pathways and the morphogenesis of the spore coat and exosporium will be discussed.
AB - Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, spore-forming obligate anaerobe and a major nosocomial pathogen of worldwide concern. Owing to its strict anaerobic requirements, the infectious and transmissible morphotype is the dormant spore. In susceptible patients, C. difficile spores germinate in the colon to form the vegetative cells that initiate Clostridium difficile infections (CDI). During CDI, C. difficile induces a sporulation pathway that produces more spores; these spores are responsible for the persistence of C. difficile in patients and horizontal transmission between hospitalized patients. Although important to the C. difficile lifecycle, the C. difficile spore proteome is poorly conserved when compared to members of the Bacillus genus. Further, recent studies have revealed significant differences between C. difficile and Bacillus subtilis at the level of sporulation, germination, and spore coat and exosporium morphogenesis. In this review, the regulation of the sporulation and germination pathways and the morphogenesis of the spore coat and exosporium will be discussed.
KW - C. difficile spores
KW - Exosporium
KW - Germination
KW - Spore coat
KW - Sporulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903612457&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tim.2014.04.003
DO - 10.1016/j.tim.2014.04.003
M3 - Review article
C2 - 24814671
AN - SCOPUS:84903612457
SN - 0966-842X
VL - 22
SP - 406
EP - 416
JO - Trends in Microbiology
JF - Trends in Microbiology
IS - 7
ER -