Deoxycholate induces biofilm formation by Clostridium difficile while repressing sporuation and toxin production

The objective of our study was to characterize the response of C. difficle to deoxycholate. When C. difficile was grown in the presence of deoxycholate, we observed an increase in biofilm formation. We then analyzed the transcriptome of the DCA-induced biofilm and cells grown in the absence of deoxycholate. The transcriptome analysis was then confirmed using phenotypic assays and gene-deletion strains. Total RNA was extracted from 3 independent biological replicates of 630 C. difficile strains at 2 conditions with and without Deoxycholate 240 µM (6 samples).