RelQ-mediated alarmone signaling regulates growth, sporulation, and stress-induced biofilm formation in Clostridioides difficile
Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: ABSTRACT The bacterial stringent response (SR) is a conserved transcriptional reprogramming pathway mediated by the nucleotide signaling alarmones, (pp)pGpp. The SR has been implicated in antibiotic survival in Clostridioides difficile , a biofilm- and spore-forming pathogen that causes resilient, highly recurrent C. difficile infections. The role of the SR in other processes and the effectors by which it regulates C. difficile physiology are unknown. C. difficile RelQ is a clostridial alarmone synthetase. Deletion of relQ dysregulates C. difficile growth in unstressed conditions, affects susceptibility to antibiotic and oxidative stressors, and drastically reduces biofilm formation. While wild-type C. difficile displays increased biofilm formation in the presence of sub-lethal stress, the Δ relQ strain cannot upregulate biofilm production in response to stress. Deletion of relQ slows spore accumulation in planktonic cultures but accelerates it in biofilms. This work establishes biofilm formation and sporulation as alarmone-mediated processes in C. difficile and reveals the importance of RelQ in stress-induced biofilm regulation.
Authors: Areej Malik, Adenrele Oludiran, Asia Poudel, Orlando Berumen Alvarez, Charles Woodward, Erin B. Purcell
Institution: Old Dominion University
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4391838287