ArticleApplied and environmental microbiology2012
Precise manipulation of the Clostridium difficile chromosome reveals a lack of association between the tcdC genotype and toxin production.
Article in Applied and environmental microbiology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 142 papers.
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Who cites it
142 citing papers in PubMed, 240 citations in OpenAlex.
- A set of genetic tools for use inMicrobiology (Reading, England) · 2026Article
- Comparative genomic analysis of Clostridioides difficile strains in Mexico: insights into virulence and resistance.Access microbiology · 2026Article
- Generating Targeted Mutants Using a Riboswitch to Control Plasmid Behavior During Allelic Exchange Mutagenesis.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Nanoluciferase-Based Reporters for Clostridioides difficile.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Use of the Golden Gate Cloning Technique for Plasmid Construction to Generate Conditional Lethal Mutants in C. difficile.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
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- Extracellular DNA filaments associated with surface polysaccharide II give Clostridioides difficile biofilm matrix a network-like structure.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- The phi027 bacteriophage influences physiology and virulence of the lysogenic strain of Clostridioides difficile.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Regulatory networks: Linking toxin production and sporulation in Clostridioides difficile.Anaerobe · 2025Review
- The conserved noncoding RNA ModT coordinates growth and virulence in Clostridioides difficile.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Theophylline-based control of repA on a Clostridioides difficile plasmid for use in allelic exchange.Anaerobe · 2024Article
- Identification of pathways to high-level vancomycin resistance in Clostridioides difficile that incur high fitness costs in key pathogenicity traits.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Spores of Clostridioides difficile are toxin delivery vehicles.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Formation of the pyruvoyl-dependent proline reductase Prd fromPNAS nexus · 2024Article
- Toxin genotypes, antibiotic resistance and their correlations in Clostridioides difficile isolated from hospitals in Xi'an, China.BMC microbiology · 2024Article
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- Genomic and phenotypic characterization of aFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2024Article
- Ribotypes and New Virulent Strains Across Europe.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
- Biofilm Formation ofMicroorganisms · 2023Review
82 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Clostridium difficile causes a potentially fatal diarrheal disease through the production of its principal virulence factors, toxin A and toxin B. The tcdC gene is thought to encode a negative regulator of toxin production. Therefore, increased toxin production, and hence increased virulence, is often inferred in strains with an aberrant tcdC genotype. This report describes the first allele exchange system for precise genetic manipulation of C. difficile, using the codA gene of Escherichia coli as a heterologous counterselection marker. It was used to systematically restore the Δ117 frameshift mutation and the 18-nucleotide deletion that occur naturally in the tcdC gene of C. difficile R20291 (PCR ribotype 027). In addition, the naturally intact tcdC gene of C. difficile 630 (PCR ribotype 012) was deleted and then subsequently restored with a silent nucleotide substitution, or "watermark," so the resulting strain was distinguishable from the wild type. Intriguingly, there was no association between the tcdC genotype and toxin production in either C. difficile R20291 or C. difficile 630. Therefore, an aberrant tcdC genotype does not provide a broadly applicable rationale for the perceived notion that PCR ribotype 027 strains are "high-level" toxin producers. This may well explain why several studies have reported that an aberrant tcdC gene does not predict increased toxin production or, indeed, increased virulence.
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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.