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National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 6(111), p. 2313-2318, 2014

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1311589111

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Clostridium difficile toxin CDT hijacks microtubule organization and reroutes vesicle traffic to increase pathogen adherence

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Clostridium difficile causes antibiotic-associated diarrhea and pseudomembranous colitis by the actions of Rho-glucosylating toxins A and B. Recently identified hypervirulent strains, which are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, additionally produce the actin-ADP-ribosylating toxin C. difficile transferase (CDT). CDT depolymerizes actin, causes formation of microtubule-based protrusions, and increases pathogen adherence. Here we show that CDT-induced protrusions allow vesicle traffic and contain endoplasmic reticulum tubules, connected to microtubules via the calcium sensor Stim1. The toxin reroutes Rab11-positive vesicles containing fibronectin, which is involved in bacterial adherence, from basolateral to the apical membrane sides in a microtubule- and Stim1-dependent manner. The data yield a model of C. difficile adherence regulated by actin depolymerization, microtubule restructuring, subsequent Stim1-dependent Ca(2+) signaling, vesicle rerouting, and secretion of ECM proteins to increase bacterial adherence.