| description |
Clostridium difficile is a Gram-positive, sporogenic anaerobe that is rapidly emerging as an important nosocomial enteric pathogen1,2. C. difficile is also the primary causative agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea consequent to antecedent disruption of the host microbiota3,4, and thus represents a major healthcare-associated problem and significant drain on resources5,6. Infection with C. difficile is endemic in many hospitals5, with the disease spectrum ranging from asymptomatic carriage to life-threatening pseudomembraneous colitis3,7.Spores are the infective form of C. difficile, and are able to persist in the environment generating a transmission reservoir that confounds infection control measures7,8. However, the exact in vivo signals that induce sporulation and the subsequent genomic and proteomic programmes that follow remain to be understood. Given that these pathways are potential targets to limit C. difficile sporulation, there is a compelling need to understand the molecular processes that lead to the formation of spores. This proposal focuses on defining the genetic pathways associated with C. difficile sporulation using transcriptomics and proteomics.http://www.sanger.ac.uk/resources/downloads/bacteria/clostridium.html |