Comparison of the expression profiles of the 630E (JIR8094) strain and a prdR mutant (LB-CD8) after 4h growth in TY supplemented with L-proline. Clostridioides difficile

Clostridium difficile, a proteolytic Gram-positive anaerobe, has emerged as a significant nosocomial pathogen. Stickland fermentation reactions are thought to be important for growth of C. difficile. In Stickland reactions, pairs of amino acids donate and accept electrons, generating ATP and reducing power in the process. Reduction of the electron acceptors proline and glycine requires the D-proline reductase (PR) and the glycine reductase (GR) enzyme complexes, respectively. PrdR, a sigma54-dependent regulator, activates transcription of the PR-encoding genes in the presence of proline and negatively regulates the GR-encoding genes, suggesting that PrdR is a central metabolism regulator that controls preferential utilization of proline and glycine to produce energy via the Stickland reactions. Here, transcriptional profiling of the C. difficile 630E strain vs. a prdR mutant (LB-CD8) after 4h of growth in the presence of proline is performed. Overall design: Two-condition experiment: 630E (JIR8094) strain vs. prdR mutant (LB-CD8) grown in TY supplemented with 30 mM L-proline. 2 biological replicates for each condition, including a dye-swap.