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Review
. 2024 Feb 12;25(4):2202.
doi: 10.3390/ijms25042202.

Clostridioides difficile Flagella

Jean-Christophe Marvaud  1 , Sylvie Bouttier  1 , Johanna Saunier  2 , Imad Kansau  1
Affiliations
Review

Clostridioides difficile Flagella

Jean-Christophe Marvaud et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Clostridioides difficile is an important pathogen for humans with a lead in nosocomial infection, but it is also more and more common in communities. Our knowledge of the pathology has historically been focused on the toxins produced by the bacteria that remain its major virulence factors. But the dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiota creating the conditions for the colonization appears to be fundamental for our understanding of the disease. Colonization implies several steps for the bacteria that do or do not use their capacity of motility with the synthesis of flagella. In this review, we focus on the current understanding of different topics on the C. difficile flagellum, ranging from its genetic organization to the vaccinal interest in it.

Keywords: Clostridioides difficile; flagellum; motility.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Genetic organization of the flagellar locus of C. difficile. The arrows show the extent and direction of the transcription of the genes with, in black, genes of the late operon (F3); in grey, genes of the glycan biosynthetic operon (F2-type 1 organization); and, in white, genes of the early operon (F1). Names of the genes cited in the text are indicated below their positions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Atomic force microscopy (Innova, Brucker) of C. difficile 630 delta erm deposited on silicon wafer. Peritrichous flagella are indicated by blue arrows (personal image).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Alignments of FliC protein sequences of 20 C. difficile strains: A301.123 (GenBank: MCI9976946.1); HC132 (GenBank: NMS89690.1); ST848 (GenBank: UWI50438.1); ST632 (GenBank: UWD48927.1); CD85 (GenBank: EGT3785454.1); E10 (GenBank: CCK99127.1); lsh26 (GenBank: VFC60166.1); CD196 (GenBank: EQF88916.1); R20291 (GenBank: QPK95030.1); CD127 (GenBank: EQK93753.1); CD105KSO7 (GenBank: CZR95487.1); 2021EL-00999 (GenBank: MBY2229677.1); 2021EL-00594 (GenBank: MBY1102383.1); DA02633 (GenBank: HBG5846075.1); 2021EL-01125 (GenBank: MBY2081346.1); 630 (GenBank: NC_009089.1); VRECD0128 (GenBank: SJP36528.1); KS145 (GenBank: MDF3817077.1); DSM 28669 (GenBank: AXU63029.1); CDT4 (GenBank: AWH75966.1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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