title: Sequence analysis of a new open reading frame located in the pathogenicity locus of Clostridium difficile strain 8864.
abstract: Strain 8864 is a natural isolate of Clostridium difficile that is toxin B-positive and toxin A-negative. Recent work showed that there is a genetic rearrangement occurring at the pathogenicity locus (PaLoc) of the bacteria. Our investigation in the PaLoc region revealed an open reading frame (tcdF) of 543 bp DNA not reported before. This tcdF could encode a putative polypeptide of 22 kDa. Although no peptide homology was found with other known proteins, we postulate that it could be a novel protein because not only highly consensus ribosome-binding and promoter sequences were found upstream of tcdF, transcript was also identified at the region occupied by tcdF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore, Singapore. micsk@nus.edu.sg
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ow
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: X L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Bai
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D005098:Exotoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D016366:Open Reading Frames / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005098:Exotoxins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger