ArticleJournal of bacteriology2009
Characterization of the sporulation initiation pathway of Clostridium difficile and its role in toxin production.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 109 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
109 citing papers in PubMed, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- From colonization to infection: Genomic evolution of Clostridioides difficile pathogenesis.Cell reports · 2026Review
- Article
- Characterization of a hypersporulating strain derivativebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Analysis of essential genes inJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- Conservation of sporulation genes and a transmembrane-containing Spo0B variant inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- An endoribonuclease of the YicC-like family delays sporulation via sRNA degradation in Clostridioides difficile.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Analysis of Essential Genes inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for RecurrentMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- Spores of Clostridioides difficile are toxin delivery vehicles.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Histidine kinase-mediated cross-regulation of the vancomycin-resistance operon in Clostridioides difficile.Molecular microbiology · 2024Article
- A conserved switch controls virulence, sporulation, and motility in C. difficile.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- Overexpressing theToxins · 2024Article
- Review
- Fight or flee, a vital choice formLife · 2024Article
- Clostridioides difficile Sporulation.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
- Antisense inhibition of RNA polymerase α subunit ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2023Article
- A network of small RNAs regulates sporulation initiation in Clostridioides difficile.The EMBO journal · 2023Article
- Article
- Regulatory transcription factors ofCritical reviews in microbiology · 2023Review
- Targeting the Impossible: A Review of New Strategies against Endospores.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
49 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Clostridium difficile is responsible for significant mortality and morbidity in the hospitalized elderly. C. difficile spores are infectious and are a major factor contributing to nosocomial transmission. The Spo0A response regulator is the master regulator for sporulation initiation and can influence many other cellular processes. Using the ClosTron gene knockout system, we inactivated genes encoding Spo0A and a putative sporulation-associated sensor histidine kinase in C. difficile. Inactivation of spo0A resulted in an asporogeneous phenotype, whereas inactivation of the kinase reduced C. difficile sporulation capacity by 3.5-fold, suggesting that this kinase also has a role in sporulation initiation. Furthermore, inactivation of either spo0A or the kinase resulted in a marked defect in C. difficile toxin production. Therefore, Spo0A and the signaling pathway that modulates its activity appear to be involved in regulation of toxin synthesis in C. difficile. In addition, Spo0A was directly phosphorylated by a putative sporulation-associated kinase, supporting the hypothesis that sporulation initiation in C. difficile is controlled by a two-component signal transduction system rather than a multicomponent phosphorelay. The implications of these findings for C. difficile sporulation, virulence, and transmission are discussed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.