title: Fluoroquinolone resistance does not impose a cost on the fitness of Clostridium difficile in vitro.
abstract: Point mutations conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones were introduced in the gyr genes of the reference strain Clostridium difficile 630. Only mutants with the substitution Thr-82→Ile in GyrA, which characterizes the hypervirulent epidemic clone III/027/NAP1, were resistant to all fluoroquinolones tested. The absence of a fitness cost in vitro for the most frequent mutations detected in resistant clinical isolates suggests that resistance will be maintained even in the absence of antibiotic pressure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wasels
authors.affiliation: Clostridia Research Group, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kuehne
authors.affiliation: Clostridia Research Group, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Cartman
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy patrizia.spigaglia@iss.it.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Spigaglia
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barbanti
authors.affiliation: Clostridia Research Group, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Nigel P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Minton
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious, Parasitic and Immune-Mediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mastrantonio
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D016360:Clostridioides difficile / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D027081:DNA Gyrase / Q000235:genetics; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D024841:Fluoroquinolones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017354:Point Mutation / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D024841:Fluoroquinolones; D027081:DNA Gyrase