Understanding how complex, multi-gene systems evolve and function across genetic backgrounds is a central question in molecular evolution. While such systems often impose costs through epistatic inter...

The polysaccharidic capsule is present in ~50% of species across the bacterial phylogeny, including all ESKAPE microorganisms, the six most significant multidrug-resistant (MDR) nosocomial pathogens. It is also an important virulence factor and a major ...

Request PDF | On Aug 5, 2025, Richard Kellermayer and others published Reconsidering the microbial origins of primary sclerosing cholangitis and related autoimmune disorders: A case for the antro‐duod...

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Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Published online: 22 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41575-025-01071-xThis Perspective highlights emerging evidence of an interaction between Clostridiodes difficile and the enteric nervous system (ENS) during infection, discussing underlying mechanisms and how the ENS and extrinsic innervation are affected by C. difficile infection and toxins and how ENS responses contribute to pathogenesis and disease outcomes.

by John W. Ribis, César Nieto, Nicholas V. DiBenedetto, Anchal Mehra, Pola Kuhn, Qiwen Dong, Irene Nagawa, Imane El Meouche, Bree B. Aldridge, Mary J. Dunlop, Rita Tamayo, Abhyudai Singh, Aimee Shen 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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Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) is a Gram-negative bacterium that commonly resides in the human gastrointestinal tract and can also act as an opportunistic pathogen and cause extra-intestinal infections. K...

ROS plays a fundamental role in intestinal homeostasis, limiting the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria. Clostridioides difficile is an important enteropathogen that induces an intense immune respon...