title: Recent advances in germination of Clostridium spores.
abstract: Members of Clostridium genus are a diverse group of anaerobic spore-formers that includes several pathogenic species. Their anaerobic requirement enhances the importance of the dormant spore morphotype during infection, persistence and transmission. Bacterial spores are metabolically inactive and may survive for long times in the environment and germinate in presence of nutrients termed germinants. Recent progress with spores of several Clostridium species has identified the germinant receptors (GRs) involved in nutrient germinant recognition and initiation of spore germination. Signal transduction from GRs to the downstream effectors remains poorly understood but involves the release of dipicolinic acid. Two mechanistically different cortex hydrolytic machineries are present in Clostridium spores. Recent studies have also shed light into novel biological events that occur during spore formation (accumulation of transcriptional units) and transcription during early spore outgrowth. In summary, this review will cover all of the recent advances in Clostridium spore germination.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Mecanismos de Patogénesis Bacteriana, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Olguín-Araneda
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Corvallis, OR, USA; Department of Microbiology, College of Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA; Medical Laboratories Department, College of Science Al-Zulfi, Majmaah University, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banawas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Corvallis, OR, USA; Department of Microbiology, College of Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Mahfuzur R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Sarker
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Mecanismos de Patogénesis Bacteriana, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile; Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Corvallis, OR, USA. Electronic address: daniel.paredes.sabja@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paredes-Sabja
mesh_terms: D003013:Clostridium / Q000254:growth & development*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000254:growth & development*
keywords: Clostridium; Cortex hydrolysis; Germinant receptors; Germination; Spores