ArticleJournal of bacteriology2014
Identification and characterization of a gene cluster required for proper rod shape, cell division, and pathogenesis in Clostridium difficile.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Unique growth and morphology properties of Clade 5bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Unique growth and morphology properties of Clade 5 Clostridioides difficile strains revealed by single-cell time-lapse microscopy.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Identification ofJournal of bacteriology · 2024Article
- Diversification of division mechanisms in endospore-forming bacteria revealed by analyses of peptidoglycan synthesis in Clostridioides difficile.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Platelets promote human macrophages-mediated macropinocytosis ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Article
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- Activation of the Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factor σmSphere · 2022Article
- Practical observations on the use of fluorescent reporter systems in Clostridioides difficile.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · 2022Article
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- Lysozyme Resistance in Clostridioides difficile Is Dependent on Two Peptidoglycan Deacetylases.Journal of bacteriology · 2020Article
- A Strongly Fluorescing Anaerobic Reporter and Protein-Tagging System forApplied and environmental microbiology · 2019Article
- A Xylose-Inducible Expression System and a CRISPR Interference Plasmid for Targeted Knockdown of Gene Expression in Clostridioides difficile.Journal of bacteriology · 2019Article
- Clostridial Genetics: Genetic Manipulation of the Pathogenic Clostridia.Microbiology spectrum · 2019Review
- Article
- Multiple factors contribute to bimodal toxin gene expression in Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile.Molecular microbiology · 2018Article
- The distinctive cell division interactome of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.BMC microbiology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Little is known about cell division in Clostridium difficile, a strict anaerobe that causes serious diarrheal diseases in people whose normal intestinal microbiome has been perturbed by treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics. Here we identify and characterize a gene cluster encoding three cell division proteins found only in C. difficile and a small number of closely related bacteria. These proteins were named MldA, MldB, and MldC, for midcell localizing division proteins. MldA is predicted to be a membrane protein with coiled-coil domains and a peptidoglycan-binding SPOR domain. MldB and MldC are predicted to be cytoplasmic proteins; MldB has two predicted coiled-coil domains, but MldC lacks obvious conserved domains or sequence motifs. Mutants of mldA or mldB had morphological defects, including loss of rod shape (a curved cell phenotype) and inefficient separation of daughter cells (a chaining phenotype). Fusions of cyan fluorescent protein (CFP) to MldA, MldB, and MldC revealed that all three proteins localize sharply to the division site. This application of CFP was possible because we discovered that O2-dependent fluorescent proteins produced anaerobically can acquire fluorescence after cells are fixed with cross-linkers to preserve native patterns of protein localization. Mutants lacking the Mld proteins are severely attenuated for pathogenesis in a hamster model of C. difficile infection. Because all three Mld proteins are essentially unique to C. difficile, they might be exploited as targets for antibiotics that combat C. difficile without disrupting the intestinal microbiome.
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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.