Importance of toxin A, toxin B, and CDT in virulence of an epidemic Clostridium difficile strain.
Clostridium difficile infection is the main cause of healthcare-acquired diarrhea in the developed world. In addition to the main virulence factors toxin A and B, epidemic, PCR Ribotype 027 strains, such as R20291, produce a third toxin, CDT. To develop effective medical countermeasures, it is important to understand the importance of each toxin. Accordingly, we created all possible combinations of isogenic toxin mutants of R20291 and assessed their virulence. We demonstrated that either toxin A or toxin B alone can cause fulminant disease in the hamster infection model and present tantalizing data that C. difficile toxin may also contribute to virulence.
Clostridia Research Group, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Sarah A
SA
Kuehne
Mark M
MM
Collery
Michelle L
ML
Kelly
Stephen T
ST
Cartman
Alan
A
Cockayne
Nigel P
NP
Minton
D036002:ADP Ribose Transferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics; D016923:Cell Death; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D003015:Clostridium Infections / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006224:Cricetinae; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D019073:HT29 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008647:Mesocricetus; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004768:Enterotoxins; C041348:tcdA protein, Clostridium difficile; C031815:toxB protein, Clostridium difficile; D036002:ADP Ribose Transferases; C410164:actin-specific ADP-ribosyltransferase, Clostridium
CDT; Clostridium difficile infection; TcdA; TcdB; pathogenesis