ArticlePLoS pathogens2025
Unique growth and morphology properties of Clade 5 Clostridioides difficile strains revealed by single-cell time-lapse microscopy.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- CenIR, an essential BlaIR-family regulatory system inJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Phase variable colony morphotypes ofInfection and immunity · 2026Article
- Carboxypeptidase activity drives L,D-transpeptidase essentiality during vegetative growth and sporulation inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A single DNA methylation site regulates cell fate during Clostridioides difficile sporulation.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Contact dependent suppression ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- CenIR, an essential BlaIR-family regulatory system inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- Phase variable colony morphotypes ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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- Phenotypic analysis of variousApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Flagellar switch inverted repeats impact heterogeneity in flagellar gene expression and thus C. difficile RT027/MLST1 virulence.Cell reports · 2025Article
- 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
- Phenotypic analysis of variousbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
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13 authors.
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Abstract
Clostridioides difficile is a gastrointestinal pathogen of both humans and agricultural animals and thus a major One Health threat. The C. difficile species consists of five main clades, with Clade 5 currently undergoing speciation from Clades 1-4. Since Clade 5 strains are highly prevalent in agricultural animals and a frequent cause of zoonotic infections, these strains may have evolved phenotypes that distinguish them from Clade 1-4 strains. Here, we compare the growth properties of Clade 5 strains to those of Clade 1-4 strains using anaerobic time-lapse microscopy coupled with automated image analysis. Our analyses indicate that Clade 5 strains grow faster and are more likely to form long chains of cells than Clade 1-4 strains. Using comparative genomic and CRISPRi analyses, we show that the chaining phenotype of Clade 5 strains is driven by the orientation of the invertible cmr switch sequence, with chaining strains exhibiting a bias to the cmr-ON state. Interestingly, Clade 5 strains with a bias towards the cmr-ON state shifted to a largely cmr-OFF state during murine infection, suggesting that the cmr-OFF state is under positive selection during infection. Collectively, our data reveal that Clade 5 strains have distinct growth properties, which may allow them to inhabit diverse ecological niches.
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