ArticlePLoS genetics2016
A Recombination Directionality Factor Controls the Cell Type-Specific Activation of σK and the Fidelity of Spore Development in Clostridium difficile.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- To Sporulate or Not to Sporulate: Developmental Checkpoints MonitoringAnnual review of microbiology · 2025Review
- Identification of cognate recombination directionality factors for large serine recombinases by virtual pulldown.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Embedding a ribonuclease in the spore crust couples gene expression to spore development in Bacillus subtilis.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Variable orthogonality of serine integrase interactions within the ϕC31 family.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Cleavage of an engulfment peptidoglycan hydrolase by a sporulation signature protease in Clostridioides difficile.Molecular microbiology · 2024Article
- Variable orthogonality of RDF - large serine integrase interactions within the ϕC31 family.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Clostridioides difficile Sporulation.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024Review
- A Novel Prophage-like Insertion Element withinViruses · 2023Article
- A sporulation signature protease is required for assembly of the spore surface layers, germination and host colonization in Clostridioides difficile.PLoS pathogens · 2023Article
- Conservation and Evolution of the Sporulation Gene Set in Diverse Members of theJournal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Identification of RNAs bound by Hfq reveals widespread RNA partners and a sporulation regulator in the human pathogenRNA biology · 2021Article
- An RNA-centric global view ofProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- The Morphogenetic Protein CotE Positions Exosporium Proteins CotY and ExsY during Sporulation of Bacillus cereus.mSphere · 2021Article
- Complete Genome Sequencing and Comparative Phenotypic Analysis Reveal the Discrepancy BetweenFrontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Article
- Epigenomic characterization of Clostridioides difficile finds a conserved DNA methyltransferase that mediates sporulation and pathogenesis.Nature microbiology · 2020Article
- Characterization of Exosporium Layer Variability ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
- Sporulation and Germination in Clostridial Pathogens.Microbiology spectrum · 2019Review
- Article
- Characterization of Flagellum and Toxin Phase Variation in Clostridioides difficile Ribotype 012 Isolates.Journal of bacteriology · 2018Article
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 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The strict anaerobe Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea, and the oxygen-resistant spores that it forms have a central role in the infectious cycle. The late stages of sporulation require the mother cell regulatory protein σK. In Bacillus subtilis, the onset of σK activity requires both excision of a prophage-like element (skinBs) inserted in the sigK gene and proteolytical removal of an inhibitory pro-sequence. Importantly, the rearrangement is restricted to the mother cell because the skinBs recombinase is produced specifically in this cell. In C. difficile, σK lacks a pro-sequence but a skinCd element is present. The product of the skinCd gene CD1231 shares similarity with large serine recombinases. We show that CD1231 is necessary for sporulation and skinCd excision. However, contrary to B. subtilis, expression of CD1231 is observed in vegetative cells and in both sporangial compartments. Nevertheless, we show that skinCd excision is under the control of mother cell regulatory proteins σE and SpoIIID. We then demonstrate that σE and SpoIIID control the expression of the skinCd gene CD1234, and that this gene is required for sporulation and skinCd excision. CD1231 and CD1234 appear to interact and both proteins are required for skinCd excision while only CD1231 is necessary for skinCd integration. Thus, CD1234 is a recombination directionality factor that delays and restricts skinCd excision to the terminal mother cell. Finally, while the skinCd element is not essential for sporulation, deletion of skinCd results in premature activity of σK and in spores with altered surface layers. Thus, skinCd excision is a key element controlling the onset of σK activity and the fidelity of spore development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.