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Clostridioides difficile strain-dependent and strain-independent adaptations to a microaerobic environment.

ABSTRACT: Clostridioides difficile (formerly Clostridium difficile) colonizes the gastrointestinal tract following disruption of the microbiota and can initiate a spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic to life-threatening colitis. Following antibiotic treatment, luminal oxygen concentrations increase, exposing gut microbes to potentially toxic reactive oxygen species. Though typically regarded as a strict anaerobe, C. difficile can grow at low oxygen concentrations. How this bacterium adapts to a microaerobic environment and whether those responses to oxygen are conserved amongst strains is not entirely understood. Here, two C. difficile strains (630 and CD196) were cultured in 1.5% oxygen and the transcriptional response to long-term oxygen exposure was evaluated via RNA-sequencing. During growth in a microaerobic environment, several genes predicted to protect against oxidative stress were upregulated, including those for rubrerythrins and rubredoxins. Transcription of genes involved in metal homeostasis was also positively correlated with increased oxygen levels and these genes were amongst the most differentially transcribed. To directly compare the transcriptional landscape between C. difficile strains, a 'consensus-genome' was generated. On the basis of the identified conserved genes, basal transcriptional differences as well as variations in the response to oxygen were evaluated. While several responses were similar between the strains, there were significant differences in the abundance of transcripts involved in amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism. Furthermore, intracellular metal concentrations significantly varied both in an oxygen-dependent and oxygen-independent manner. Overall, these results indicate that C. difficile adapts to grow in a low oxygen environment through transcriptional changes, though the specific strategy employed varies between strains.

SUBMITTER: Weiss A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8767335 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Clostridioides difficile (formerly Clostridium difficile) colonizes the gastrointestinal tract following disruption of the microbiota and can initiate a spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic to life-threatening colitis. Following antibiotic treatment, luminal oxygen concentrations increase, exposing gut microbes to potentially toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Though typically regarded as a strict anaerobe, C. difficile can grow at low oxygen concentrations. How the bacterium adapts to a microaerobic environment and whether those responses to oxygen are conserved amongst strains is not entirely understood. Here, two C. difficile strains (630 and CD196) were cultured in 1.5% oxygen and the transcriptional response was evaluated via RNA-sequencing. During growth in a microaerobic environment, several genes predicted to protect against oxidative stress were upregulated, including ruberythrins and rubredoxins. Genes involved in metal homeostasis were positively correlated with increasing oxygen levels and were also amongst the most differentially transcribed. These included ferrous iron transporters (feo), a zinc transporter (zupT), and predicted siderophore transporters. To directly compare the transcriptional landscape between C. difficile strains, a ‘consensus-genome’ was generated. On the basis of the identified conserved genes, basal transcriptional differences as well as variations in the response to oxygen were evaluated. While several responses were similar between the strains, there were significant differences in the abundance of transcripts for amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism. Furthermore, homologous metal homeostasis genes were similarly transcribed, but the intracellular metal concentrations significantly varied both in an oxygen-dependent and independent manner. Overall, these results indicate that C. difficile adapts to grow in a low oxygen environment through transcriptional changes, though the specific strategy employed varies between strains.

Project description:The anaerobic spore former Clostridioides difficile causes significant diarrheal disease in humans and other mammals. Infection begins with the ingestion of dormant spores, which subsequently germinate within the host gastrointestinal tract. There, the vegetative cells proliferate and secrete two exotoxins, TcdA and TcdB, which cause disease symptoms. Although spore formation and toxin production are critical for C. difficile pathogenesis, the regulatory links between these two physiological processes are not well understood and are strain dependent. Previously, we identified a conserved C. difficile regulator, RstA, that promotes sporulation initiation through an unknown mechanism and directly and indirectly represses toxin and motility gene transcription in the historical isolate 630Δerm To test whether perceived strain-dependent differences in toxin production and sporulation are mediated by RstA, we created an rstA mutant in the epidemic ribotype 027 strain R20291. RstA affected sporulation and toxin gene expression similarly but more robustly in R20291 than in 630Δerm In contrast, no effect on motility gene expression was observed in R20291. Reporter assays measuring transcriptional regulation of tcdR, the sigma factor gene essential for toxin gene expression, identified sequence-dependent effects influencing repression by RstA and CodY, a global nutritional sensor, in four diverse C. difficile strains. Finally, sequence- and strain-dependent differences were evident in RstA negative autoregulation of rstA transcription. Altogether, our data suggest that strain-dependent differences in RstA regulation contribute to the sporulation and toxin phenotypes observed in R20291. Our data establish RstA as an important regulator of C. difficile virulence traits.IMPORTANCE Two critical traits of Clostridioides difficile pathogenesis are toxin production, which causes disease symptoms, and spore formation, which permits survival outside the gastrointestinal tract. The multifunctional regulator RstA promotes sporulation and prevents toxin production in the historical strain 630Δerm Here, we show that RstA exhibits stronger effects on these phenotypes in an epidemic isolate, R20291, and additional strain-specific effects on toxin and rstA expression are evident. Our data demonstrate that sequence-specific differences within the promoter for the toxin regulator TcdR contribute to the regulation of toxin production by RstA and CodY. These sequence differences account for some of the variability in toxin production among isolates and may allow strains to differentially control toxin production in response to a variety of signals.

Project description:Clostridioides difficile is one of the leading causes of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Gut microbiota-derived secondary bile acids and commensal Clostridia that carry the bile acid-inducible (bai) operon are associated with protection from C. difficile infection (CDI), although the mechanism is not known. In this study, we hypothesized that commensal Clostridia are important for providing colonization resistance against C. difficile due to their ability to produce secondary bile acids, as well as potentially competing against C. difficile for similar nutrients. To test this hypothesis, we examined the abilities of four commensal Clostridia carrying the bai operon (Clostridium scindens VPI 12708, C. scindens ATCC 35704, Clostridium hiranonis, and Clostridium hylemonae) to convert cholate (CA) to deoxycholate (DCA) in vitro, and we determined whether the amount of DCA produced was sufficient to inhibit the growth of a clinically relevant C. difficile strain. We also investigated the competitive relationships between these commensals and C. difficile using an in vitro coculture system. We found that inhibition of C. difficile growth by commensal Clostridia supplemented with CA was strain dependent, correlated with the production of ∼2 mM DCA, and increased the expression of bai operon genes. We also found that C. difficile was able to outcompete all four commensal Clostridia in an in vitro coculture system. These studies are instrumental in understanding the relationship between commensal Clostridia and C. difficile in the gut, which is vital for designing targeted bacterial therapeutics. Future studies dissecting the regulation of the bai operon in vitro and in vivo and how this affects CDI will be important.IMPORTANCE Commensal Clostridia carrying the bai operon, such as C. scindens, have been associated with protection against CDI; however, the mechanism for this protection is unknown. Herein, we show four commensal Clostridia that carry the bai operon and affect C. difficile growth in a strain-dependent manner, with and without the addition of cholate. Inhibition of C. difficile by commensals correlated with the efficient conversion of cholate to deoxycholate, a secondary bile acid that inhibits C. difficile germination, growth, and toxin production. Competition studies also revealed that C. difficile was able to outcompete the commensals in an in vitro coculture system. These studies are instrumental in understanding the relationship between commensal Clostridia and C. difficile in the gut, which is vital for designing targeted bacterial therapeutics.

Project description:Abstract Background Clostridioides difficile is a leading cause of healthcare-associated infection (HAI), most often following antibiotic therapy. The source of these infections may be endogenous or nosocomial; effective intervention requires distinquishing between these, which in turn requires strain typing. Numerous methods have been developed for C. difficile typing, ranging from length-based ribotyping and MLVA to whole genome sequencing. However, none are routinely used in clinical settings due to low resolution, high cost, technical complexity, or requirement for cultured isolates. The application of polymorphic locus sequence typing (PLST) to epidemiological analysis of HAI and foodborne infections has recently been described; here this approach is extended to C. difficile. Methods Tandem repeats were bioinformatically identified in the genome sequence of ribotype 027 strain R20291. These were screened by BLASTN of GenBank databases for the most polymorphic locus, which identified CdMT1 (Mbp 3.149). DNA was purified from colonies or environmental (Banana Broth) cultures; bead-beating and PCR inhibitor removal steps were required for consistent results. Results CdMT1 encompassed MLVA repeat C6cd which, based on length alone, yielded the highest diversity index (DI) of 0.96. In contrast, CdMT1 sequence analysis yielded DI of >0.99. Comparison to ribotype further illustrated high level resolution; e.g., 9 ribotype 027 strains were resolved into 8 CdMT1 alleles. For initial laboratory evalulation, veterinary C. difficile isolates (44 canine, 4 bovine) were CdMT1 typed. Bioinformatic analysis of the 48 sequences resolved 24 CdMT1 alleles, including 8 clusters of 2 to 6 canine strains. Six of these clusters represented isolates from individual puppies in the same litter, or from different litters but the same household, while the bovine isolates formed a phylogenetically distinct group. Using the same DNA purification protocol, CdMT1 typing demonstrated compatibility with C. difficile-spiked stool samples and Banana Broth environmental cultures. Conclusion CdMT1 typing represents a potentially useful tool for outbreak detection and investigation in healthcare facilities, particularly in light of its compatibility with both stool and environmental samples. Disclosures Tom Edlind, PhD, MicrobiType LLC (Employee, Scientific Research Study Investigator)

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Clostridioides difficile strain-dependent and strain-independent adaptations to a microaerobic environment.

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