Regulatory Role of Anti-Sigma Factor RsbW in Clostridioides difficile Stress Response, Persistence, and Infection.

ABSTRACT: The anaerobic pathogen Clostridioides difficile, which is a primary cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, faces a variety of stresses in the environment and in the mammalian gut. To cope with these stresses, alternative sigma factor B (σ^B) is employed to modulate gene transcription, and σ^B is regulated by an anti-sigma factor, RsbW. To understand the role of RsbW in C. difficile physiology, a rsbW mutant (ΔrsbW), in which σ^B is assumed to be "always on," was generated. ΔrsbW did not show fitness defects in the absence of stress but tolerated acidic environments and detoxified reactive oxygen and nitrogen species better compared to the parental strain. ΔrsbW was defective in spore and biofilm formation, but it displayed increas

SUBMITTER: Cheng JKJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10210984 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature