This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sorg, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Sonenshein, A. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sorg, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Sonenshein, A. L.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2008, p. 2505-2512, Vol. 190, No. 7
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01765-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Bile Salts and Glycine as Cogerminants for Clostridium difficile Spores{triangledown}

Joseph A. Sorg and Abraham L. Sonenshein*

Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts

Received 6 November 2007/ Accepted 25 January 2008

Spore formation by Clostridium difficile is a significant obstacle to overcoming hospital-acquired C. difficile-associated disease. Spores are resistant to heat, radiation, chemicals, and antibiotics, making a contaminated environment difficult to clean. To cause disease, however, spores must germinate and grow out as vegetative cells. The germination of C. difficile spores has not been examined in detail. In an effort to understand the germination of C. difficile spores, we characterized the response of C. difficile spores to bile. We found that cholate derivatives and the amino acid glycine act as cogerminants. Deoxycholate, a metabolite of cholate produced by the normal intestinal flora, also induced germination of C. difficile spores but prevented the growth of vegetative C. difficile. A model of resistance to C. difficile colonization mediated by the normal bacterial flora is proposed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111. Phone: (617) 636-6761. Fax: (617) 636-0337. E-mail: linc.sonenshein{at}tufts.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 1 February 2008.

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2008, p. 2505-2512, Vol. 190, No. 7
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.01765-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Nerandzic, M. M., Pultz, M. J., Donskey, C. J. (2009). Examination of Potential Mechanisms To Explain the Association between Proton Pump Inhibitors and Clostridium difficile Infection. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 53: 4133-4137 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lawley, T. D., Croucher, N. J., Yu, L., Clare, S., Sebaihia, M., Goulding, D., Pickard, D. J., Parkhill, J., Choudhary, J., Dougan, G. (2009). Proteomic and Genomic Characterization of Highly Infectious Clostridium difficile 630 Spores. J. Bacteriol. 191: 5377-5386 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Paredes-Sabja, D., Bond, C., Carman, R. J., Setlow, P., Sarker, M. R. (2009). Germination of spores of Clostridium difficile strains, including isolates from a hospital outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD). Microbiology 155: 1376-1376 [Full Text]  
  • Sorg, J. A., Sonenshein, A. L. (2009). Chenodeoxycholate Is an Inhibitor of Clostridium difficile Spore Germination. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1115-1117 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Jones, B. V., Begley, M., Hill, C., Gahan, C. G. M., Marchesi, J. R. (2008). Functional and comparative metagenomic analysis of bile salt hydrolase activity in the human gut microbiome. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105: 13580-13585 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Paredes-Sabja, D., Bond, C., Carman, R. J., Setlow, P., Sarker, M. R. (2008). Germination of spores of Clostridium difficile strains, including isolates from a hospital outbreak of Clostridium difficile-associated disease (CDAD). Microbiology 154: 2241-2250 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»