Interplay between Bile Acids and Intestinal Microbiota: Regulatory Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential for Infections - PubMed
Bile acids (BAs) play a crucial role in the human body's defense against infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses. BAs counteract infections not only through interactions with intestinal bacteria exhibiting bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity but they also directly combat infections. Buildin …
Clinical sequelae of gut microbiome development and disruption in hospitalized preterm infants - PubMed
Aberrant preterm infant gut microbiota assembly predisposes to early-life disorders and persistent health problems. Here, we characterize gut microbiome dynamics over the first 3 months of life in 236 preterm infants hospitalized in three neonatal intensive care units using shotgun metagenomics of 2 …
The small acid-soluble proteins of Clostridioides difficile regulate sporulation in a SpoIVB2-dependent manner - PubMed
Clostridioides difficile is a pathogen whose transmission relies on the formation of dormant endospores. Spores are highly resilient forms of bacteria that resist environmental and chemical insults. In recent work, we found that C. difficile SspA and SspB, two small acid-soluble proteins (SASPs), pr …
Retrospective, Propensity Score Matched Study Examining Relationship between Frailty and Clostridioides difficile Infection in a National Cohort of United States Veterans - PubMed
This study demonstrated the potential association between baseline frailty and CDI risk and health outcomes, as well as new-onset frailty diagnoses in patients who develop CDI.
Elucidating human gut microbiota interactions that robustly inhibit diverse Clostridioides difficile strains across different nutrient landscapes - PubMed
The human gut pathogen Clostridioides difficile displays substantial inter-strain genetic variability and confronts a changeable nutrient landscape in the gut. We examined how human gut microbiota inter-species interactions influence the growth and toxin production of various C. difficile strains ac …
Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation awards $4.8 million to exceptional early-career scientists
“What is so exciting—and so challenging—about being a postdoc is that you’re called to take what you know and apply it to a new problem,” said Damon Runyon Fellow Georgia R. Squyres, PhD. “When you’re stepping out into open space like that, it’s important to feel that you have a net of support under you. The Damon Runyon Fellowship lets us take that leap.”
For C. diff, antibiotic resistance comes at a cost
Researchers have identified two distinct mechanisms of drug resistance in C. difficile, but its ability to withstand antibiotics comes with downsides for the bacteria.
Impact of Helicobacter pylori Eradication on Inflammatory Bowel Disease Onset and Disease Activity: To Eradicate or Not to Eradicate? - PubMed
Helicobacter pylori infection has significant epidemiological relevance due to the carcinogenic nature of this bacterium, which is potentially associated with cancer. When detected, it should ideally be eradicated using a treatment that currently involves a combination of gastric acid suppres …
Emerging Clostridioides difficile ribotypes have divergent metabolic phenotypes - PubMed
The gut pathogen Clostridioides difficile utilizes a wide range of carbon sources. Microbial communities can be rationally designed to combat C. difficile by depleting its preferred nutrients in the gut. However, C. difficile is genetically diverse with hundreds of identified ri …
A Clostridioides difficile endolysin modulates toxin secretion without cell lysis - PubMed
The Clostridia produce and secrete Large Clostridial Glucosylating Toxins (LCGTs) responsible for disease symptoms, but the secretion mechanism is largely unknown. Recently, a holin-like protein was shown to be essential for toxin secretion. Holins, typically bacteriophage-specific proteins, are par …
Physiological role and complex regulation of O2-reducing enzymes in the obligate anaerobe Clostridioides difficile - PubMed
The gastrointestinal tract is a hypoxic environment, with the existence of two gradients of O2 along the gut, one longitudinal anteroposterior decreasing gradient and one proximodistal increasing from the lumen to the epithelial cells. O2 is a major source of stress for an obli …
Role of glycogen metabolism in Clostridioides difficile virulence - PubMed
Glycogen plays a vital role as an energy reserve in various bacterial and fungal species. Clostridioides difficile possesses a glycogen metabolism operon that contains genes for both glycogen synthesis and utilization. In our investigation, we focused on understanding the significance of glyc …
Elucidating human gut microbiota interactions that robustly inhibit diverse Clostridioides difficile strains across different nutrient landscapes
Nature Communications - In this paper, the authors use a systems biology approach to explore human gut microbiota interactions impacting multiple Clostridioides difficile strains in various...
Structural and Functional Insights into the Delivery Systems of Bacillus and Clostridial Binary Toxins - PubMed
Pathogenic Bacillus and clostridial (i.e., Clostridium and Clostridioides) bacteria express a diverse repertoire of effector proteins to promote disease. This includes production of binary toxins, which enter host epithelial cells and seriously damage the intestinal tracts of in …
Gut microbiome and plasma lipidome analysis reveals a specific impact of Clostridioides difficile infection on intestinal bacterial communities and sterol metabolism - PubMed
There is increasing evidence about the influence the changes in microbiota and its metabolism has on numerous diseases and infections such as Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). The knowledge of these changes at local and systemic levels can help us manage this infection to avoid recurr …
Role of glycogen metabolism in Clostridioides difficile virulence - PubMed
Glycogen plays a vital role as an energy reserve in various bacterial and fungal species. Clostridioides difficile possesses a glycogen metabolism operon that contains genes for both glycogen synthesis and utilization. In our investigation, we focused on understanding the significance of glyc …
Physiological role and complex regulation of O2-reducing enzymes in the obligate anaerobe Clostridioides difficile - PubMed
The gastrointestinal tract is a hypoxic environment, with the existence of two gradients of O2 along the gut, one longitudinal anteroposterior decreasing gradient and one proximodistal increasing from the lumen to the epithelial cells. O2 is a major source of stress for an obli …
Emerging Clostridioides difficile ribotypes have divergent metabolic phenotypes - PubMed
The gut pathogen Clostridioides difficile utilizes a wide range of carbon sources. Microbial communities can be rationally designed to combat C. difficile by depleting its preferred nutrients in the gut. However, C. difficile is genetically diverse with hundreds of identified ri …
A Clostridioides difficile endolysin modulates toxin secretion without cell lysis - PubMed
The Clostridia produce and secrete Large Clostridial Glucosylating Toxins (LCGTs) responsible for disease symptoms, but the secretion mechanism is largely unknown. Recently, a holin-like protein was shown to be essential for toxin secretion. Holins, typically bacteriophage-specific proteins, are par …
A Clostridioides difficile endolysin modulates toxin secretion without cell lysis
Communications Biology - Identification of an N-acetylmuramoyl-l-alanine amidase in the ribotype 027 C. difficile strain M7404, involved in the active secretion of the large clostridial...
From Hemorrhage to Diarrhea: The Comprehensive Clinical Journey of a Patient With Pseudomembranous Colitis - PubMed
Pseudomembranous colitis (PC) is an inflammation of the colon primarily caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), often following antibiotic use. This case report describes the intricate clinical course of a 48-year-old male farmer with a history of chronic alcoholism, tobacco us …
Clostridioides difficile exploits xanthine and uric acid as nutrients by utilizing a selenium-dependent catabolic pathway - PubMed
Selenium is a trace element that plays critical roles in redox biology; it is typically incorporated into "selenoproteins" as the 21st amino acid selenocysteine. Additionally, selenium exists as a labile non-selenocysteine cofactor in a small subset of selenoproteins known as selenium-dependent moly …
Clostridioides difficile exploits xanthine and uric acid as nutrients by utilizing a selenium-dependent catabolic pathway - PubMed
Selenium is a trace element that plays critical roles in redox biology; it is typically incorporated into "selenoproteins" as the 21st amino acid selenocysteine. Additionally, selenium exists as a labile non-selenocysteine cofactor in a small subset of selenoproteins known as selenium-dependent moly …
Antimicrobial resistance of Clostridioides difficile in veterinary medicine around the world: A scoping review of minimum inhibitory concentrations - PubMed
Antimicrobial susceptibility testing techniques and results were found to be diverse and heterogeneous. There is no evidence of an exclusive antimicrobial resistance pattern in any animal species. Despite the phenotypic and genomic data collected over the years, further interdisciplinary studies are …