Regulation of toxin production in clostridium difficile

Abstract

This chapter discusses our current understanding of gene regulation in Clostridium difficile, focusing on how toxin production is regulated, with a particular emphasis on the major toxins, toxin A and toxin B. The onset of toxin synthesis is associated with entry into the stationary phase of growth. The precise growth phase signals involved in the initiation of toxin production remain unknown, even though nutrient signals have clearly been shown to have a profound effect on toxin production by C. difficile. TcdA and TcdB are encoded by tcdA and tcdB, respectively, which are located in a region of the chromosome known as the pathogenicity locus (PaLoc). The TcdR protein has a helix‐turn‐helix..