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. 2018 Mar 1;76(2):fty009.
doi: 10.1093/femspd/fty009.

Transcriptional response of Clostridium difficile to low iron conditions

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Transcriptional response of Clostridium difficile to low iron conditions

Jessica L Hastie et al. Pathog Dis. .

Abstract

Clostridium difficile (Cd) is the leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. During an infection, Cd must compete with both the host and other commensal bacteria to acquire iron. Iron is essential for many cell processes, but it can also cause damage if allowed to form reactive hydroxyl radicals. In all organisms, levels of free iron are tightly regulated as are processes utilizing iron molecules. Genome-wide transcriptional analysis of Cd grown in iron-depleted conditions revealed significant changes in expression of genes involved in iron transport, metabolism and virulence. These data will aid future studies examining Cd colonization and the requirements for growth in vivo during an infection.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Growth of C. difficile 630 during iron starvation. Growth of C. difficile 630 in either BHIS (black) or BHIS + 75 μM 2΄2 ΄-dipyridyl (DP) (red). Growth was measured by OD600 and samples were removed for RNA isolation and subsequent transcriptome analysis at indicated time points (arrows). Data presented are mean + SD of three replicates.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Global gene expression changes of C. difficile 630 in iron depleted media. (A) Hierarchical clustering of microarray data. Genes were identified as significant by the J5 test and fold-change across three independent microarray experiments. Statistically significant genes were grouped by hierarchical clustering using gene pattern and clustered using the Pearson correlation. (B) Validation of microarray data. Gene expression changes were measured by quantitative real-time PCR at 7 h from three independent cultures. The results of qPCR are represented with white bars, while corresponding values from the microarray experiments are represented with black bars. Data are presented as mean ± SEM of log2 transformed fold-change where fold change is the ratio of expression in iron depleted BHIS to BHIS alone.

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