Toxin synthesis by Clostridium difficile is regulated through quorum signaling.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is dramatically increasing as a cause of antibiotic- and hospital-associated diarrhea worldwide. C. difficile, a multidrug-resistant pathogen, flourishes in the colon after the gut microbiota has been altered by antibiotic therapy. Consequently, it produces toxins A and B that directly cause disease. Despite the enormous public health problem posed by this pathogen, the molecular mechanisms that regulate production of the toxins, which are directly responsible for disease, remained largely unknown until now. Here, we show that C. difficile toxin synthesis is regulated by an accessory gene regulator quorum-signaling system, which is mediated through a small (<1,000-Da) thiolactone that can be detected directly in stools of CDI patient

SUBMITTER: Darkoh C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4453554 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature