Revisiting the Role of Csp Family Proteins in Regulating Clostridium difficile Spore Germination.

ABSTRACT: Clostridium difficile causes considerable health care-associated gastrointestinal disease that is transmitted by its metabolically dormant spore form. Upon entering the gut, C. difficile spores germinate and outgrow to produce vegetative cells that release disease-causing toxins. C. difficile spore germination depends on the Csp family of (pseudo)proteases and the cortex hydrolase SleC. The CspC pseudoprotease functions as a bile salt germinant receptor that activates the protease CspB, which in turn proteolytically activates the SleC zymogen. Active SleC degrades the protective cortex layer, allowing spores to outgrow and resume metabolism. We previously showed that the CspA pseudoprotease domain, which is initially produced as a fusion to CspB, controls the incorpora

SUBMITTER: Kevorkian Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5648855 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature