Role of Spo0A on biofilm formation and sliding motility in Clostridium perfringens

MENDEZ, M.; SARKER, M.; ROBERTO RICARDO GRAU

Nottingen

Congreso; . Fith International Congress on the Molecular Biology of Pathogenic Clostridia; 2006

The current study reports that C. perfringens wild-type isolates have the ability to exhibit biofilm formation and swarming motility. These social behaviors are under the control of the master regulatory protein Spo0A, as demonstrated by the observation that C. perfringens spo0A mutant was unable to exhibit biofilm formation and swarming motility, and these effects could be fully restored by complementing the spo0A mutant with wild-type spo0A. The finding that Spo0A regulates pluricellular behaviors that would benefit the virulence of C. perfringens opens a new avenue of research to understand (and interfere) the ecology and physiological regulation of C. perfringens diseases.