Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile’s success as a pathogen is rooted in the complexity of its life cycle. The bacterial pathogen’s time as a toxin-producing vegetative cell is flanked by periods as a tough, metabolically dormant spore. C. difficile’s transition from one life stage to the next depends on specific nutrients and metabolic compounds derived from its host and other gut microbiota. By understanding what C. difficile needs (or eats, for that matter) to survive and thrive in the gut, we can develop strategies to prevent or treat C. difficile infection (CDI) at various stages of the pathogen’s life cycle.
Current Treatments Encourage C. difficile Recurrence
Most of the time, our gut microbiota protect us from C. difficile by hogging nutrients and space in the intestine, releasing metabolic by-products that inhibit C. difficile growth and secreting compounds that directly target and kill this nasty bug. However, perturbations to the microbial community, often as a result of antibiotic treatment, weaken these barriers to C. difficile colonization. Indeed, antibiotic treatment is the primary risk factor for developing CDI, thanks to its microbiota-obliterating powers. Other risk factors include old age and having a weakened immune system or pre-existing condition, like inflammatory bowel disease.
The problem of recurrent CDI, coupled with concern for the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of C. difficile and potential for adverse FMT-associated outcomes, has prompted interest in developing novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for managing CDI. Luckily, C. difficile’s life cycle offers a number of potential targets.
The Beginning of C. difficile Colonization: Germination
As an anaerobic bacterium, C. difficile survives the oxygen-rich world outside the gut by forming spores. Spores are shed through feces. Without good hygienic practices (e.g., proper hand-washing), they can contaminate food or surfaces, where they are inadvertently passed from one person to the next. While C. difficile spores are ubiquitous within the environment, one is most likely to pick them up in CDI hot-spots, like hospitals or nursing homes.
Similar to the seeds of a plant, spores contain the building blocks of mature C. difficile cells, like DNA and enzymes, encased in multiple membranes and protein-rich shells. Upon ingestion and safe passage into the host’s intestine, the spores germinate into vegetative cells. During this process, they rehydrate and metabolism kicks into gear. Whether or not germination occurs, however, depends on interactions between the spores and small molecules, called germinants, within the gut. In C. difficile’s case, these germinants come in the form of host-derived primary bile acids.
While certain spore-bile acid interactions are critical for initiating germination, they are not enough by themselves. Co-germinants, like the amino acids glycine or alanine, and calcium are also required. The exact roles of these compounds, which are presumably derived from host diet, are not well defined. However, they likely signal to C. difficile spores that there are enough nutrients in the gut to support the generation and proliferation of vegetative cells. Indeed, glycine and alanine are components of C. difficile’s peptidoglycan layer, while glycine is also an important nutrient for efficient vegetative growth. Thus, bile acids and co-germinants collectively send a message to C. difficile spores that a) they are in the gut and b) there will be enough food to support their transformation into metabolically active, free-living cells.
In addition to host-associated compounds, germination is tightly linked to the metabolic output of the gut microbiota. Some gut bacteria can convert primary bile acids into secondary bile acids, such as lithocholate and deoxycholate, which inhibit C. difficile germination and outgrowth into vegetative cells, respectively. Under normal circumstances, secondary bile acids constitute a barrier to C. difficile intestinal colonization. However, antibiotic treatment kills members of the microbiota that produce these inhibitory molecules. As a result, primary bile acids, some of which act as germinants, increase in concentration and increase the likelihood for C. difficile spore germination and expansion in the gut.
C. difficile Growth: The Vegetative Phase
After germination, C. difficile enters its hungry phase. Host microbiota normally resist C. difficile colonization, in part by inhibiting the pathogen’s access to nutrients or by releasing inhibitory metabolic compounds, like secondary bile acids.
Many of the nutrients C. difficile consumes are associated with a loss in gut bacterial diversity—the bugs that normally hoard the food C. difficile likes to eat are no longer there (likely due to antibiotic treatment). That being said, the pathogen can also exploit nutrients derived from the microbes that are present. For instance, C. difficile can use sialic acid, a sugar liberated from intestinal mucus by members of the microbiota, to expand in the gut. Other compounds associated with microbiota metabolism, such as succinate, can also feed C. difficile. Thus, the gut microbiota can be both friend and foe when it comes to C. difficile nutrient acquisition.
Hunger and Destruction: C. difficile Toxin Production
C. difficile’s phase as a vegetative cell is marked by intestinal destruction. The pathogen releases up to 3 toxins that disrupt intestinal barrier integrity and promote inflammation. Interestingly, toxin production occurs not in the presence of specific nutritional or metabolic signals, but rather in the absence of such signals.
The need for new methods for managing CDI fuels research into strategies that prevent or treat infection by targeting metabolically-distinct phases of C. difficile’s life cycle. Some of these strategies focus on germination. After all, inhibiting germination of C. difficile spores saps the ability of the pathogen to do any damage. Synthesized compounds that mimic host-derived primary bile acids prevent C. difficile spore germination in vitro, sometimes even better than their naturally-occurring molecule. One competitive inhibitor of taurocholate-mediated germination, called CamSa, even prevented/delayed CDI in a mouse model of disease.
Metabolites that enhance or suppress various C. difficile life cycle stages.
Source: Madeline Barron
Other strategies restore a C. difficile-resistant gut microbiota. While FMTs are undefined in their microbial composition, recent work has focused on identifying and generating specific bacteria or defined bacterial “cocktails” that can inhibit C. difficile germination and growth. For example, Clostridium scindens is one of the gut bacteria that can convert primary bile acids into secondary bile acids. This bacterium is associated with CDI resistance in humans and increases resistance to infection in mouse models of disease, in part by altering the bile acid pool within the gut.
While the results from these studies are encouraging, many of the proposed strategies for managing CDI are still in the early phases of development—they have yet to become more than intriguing possibilities. Nevertheless, they emphasize that the key to managing CDI may rest in understanding the metabolic underpinnings of C. difficile’s life cycle.
Madeline Barron, Ph.D. is the Science Communications Specialist at ASM. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.