Mobile genetic elements in Clostridium difficile and their role in genome function

Peter Mullany; Elaine Allan; Adam P Roberts

doi:10.1016/j.resmic.2014.12.005

Mobile genetic elements in Clostridium difficile and their role in genome function

Res Microbiol. 2015 May;166(4):361-7. doi: 10.1016/j.resmic.2014.12.005. Epub 2015 Jan 7.

Authors

Peter Mullany¹, Elaine Allan², Adam P Roberts³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbial Diseases, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, 256 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LD, UK. Electronic address: p.mullany@ucl.ac.uk.
² Department of Microbial Diseases, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, 256 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LD, UK. Electronic address: e.allan@ucl.ac.uk.
³ Department of Microbial Diseases, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, 256 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LD, UK. Electronic address: adam.roberts@ucl.ac.uk.

Abstract

Approximately 11% the Clostridium difficile genome is made up of mobile genetic elements which have a profound effect on the biology of the organism. This includes transfer of antibiotic resistance and other factors that allow the organism to survive challenging environments, modulation of toxin gene expression, transfer of the toxin genes themselves and the conversion of non-toxigenic strains to toxin producers. Mobile genetic elements have also been adapted by investigators to probe the biology of the organism and the various ways in which these have been used are reviewed.

Keywords: Bacteriophage; Conjugative transposon; Horizontal gene transfer; PaLoc; Tn5397; Tn916.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Biological
Bacterial Toxins / genetics
Bacterial Toxins / metabolism
Clostridioides difficile / genetics*
Gene Transfer, Horizontal
Genome, Bacterial
Interspersed Repetitive Sequences*

Substances

Bacterial Toxins

Grants and funding

G0601176/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom