Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
10
pubmed:dateCreated
2011-9-22
pubmed:abstractText
Although toxins A and B are known to be important contributors to the acute phase of Clostridium difficile infection, the role of colonization and adherence to host tissues in the overall pathogenesis of these organisms remains unclear. Consequently, we used the recently introduced intron-based ClosTron gene interruption system to eliminate the expression of two reported C. difficile colonization factors, the major flagellar structural subunit (FliC) and the flagellar cap protein (FliD), to gain greater insight into how flagella and motility contribute to C. difficile's pathogenic strategy. The results demonstrate that interrupting either the fliC or the fliD gene results in a complete loss of flagella, as well as motility, in C. difficile. However, both the fliC and fliD mutant strains adhered better than the wild-type 630?erm strain to human intestine-derived Caco-2 cells, suggesting that flagella and motility do not contribute to, or may even interfere with, C. difficile adherence to epithelial cell surfaces in vitro. Moreover, we found that the mutant strains were more virulent in hamsters, indicating either that flagella are unnecessary for virulence or that repression of motility may be a pathogenic strategy employed by C. difficile in hamsters.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
1098-5522
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
79
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
4061-7
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2011
pubmed:articleTitle
Mutagenic analysis of the Clostridium difficile flagellar proteins, FliC and FliD, and their contribution to virulence in hamsters.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't