RelQ-mediated alarmone signalling regulates growth, stress-induced biofilm formation and spore accumulation in Clostridioides difficile
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The bacterial stringent response (SR) is a conserved transcriptional reprogramming pathway mediated by the nucleotide signalling 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 sublethal stress, the ΔrelQ 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 spore accumulation as alarmone-mediated processes in C. difficile and reveals the importance of RelQ in stress-induced biofilm regulation.
Source: Microbiology
DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.001479
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: diamond
Awards: The role of the (p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response in Clostridioides difficile's resilience to nutrient and immune stresses typically found within a mammalian host, G4386736884, LEAPS-MPS: Determining the Mechanisms by Which Alarmone Signaling in Clostridioides Difficile Differs From Tthat in other Bacteria
OpenAlex ID: W4400803675