Flagellar switch inverted repeat impacts flagellar invertibility and varies <i>Clostridioides difficile</i> RT027/MLST1 virulence.

ABSTRACT: Clostridioides difficile RT027 strains cause infections that vary in severity from asymptomatic to lethal, but the molecular basis for this variability is poorly understood. Through comparative analyses of RT027 clinical isolates, we determined that isolates that exhibit greater variability in their flagellar gene expression exhibit greater virulence in vivo. C. difficile flagellar genes are phase-variably expressed due to the site-specific inversion of the flgB 5'UTR region, which reversibly generates ON vs. OFF orientations for the flagellar switch. We found that longer inverted repeat (IR) sequences in this switch region correlate with greater disease severity, with RT027 strains carrying 6A/6T IR sequences exhibiting greater phenotypic heterogeneity in flage

SUBMITTER: Nhu NTQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11463649 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature