Function of the CRISPR-Cas System of the Human Pathogen Clostridium difficile.

ABSTRACT:

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Clostridium difficile is the cause of most frequently occurring nosocomial diarrhea worldwide. As an enteropathogen, C. difficile must be exposed to multiple exogenous genetic elements in bacteriophage-rich gut communities. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) systems allow bacteria to adapt to foreign genetic invaders. Our recent data revealed active expression and processing of CRISPR RNAs from multiple type I-B CRISPR arrays in C. difficile reference strain 630. Here, we demonstrate active expression of CRISPR arrays in strain R20291, an epidemic C. difficile strain. Through genome sequencing and host range analysis of several new C. difficile phages and plasmid conjugation experiments, we provide evidence of defen

SUBMITTER: Boudry P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4556805 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature