Clostridium difficile articles from across Nature Portfolio

Clostridioides difficile infection has a notable health and economic burden worldwide. In this Review, the authors provide insights into the physiology of C. difficile and how it survives and has adapted to the gut environment, including insights into host–microorganism and microorganism–microorganism relationships.

Using a combination of metabolomics and bacterial and host genetics, Pruss et al. show that upregulated oxidative ornithine metabolism in Clostridioides difficile promotes its persistence within the gastrointestinal tract under non-inflammatory conditions.

Clostridioides difficile produces up to three different toxins, which are key to the pathogenesis of C. difficile infection of the colon. In this Review, Kordus, Thomas and Lacy discuss the structure and function of these toxins and how this information informs new therapeutic approaches.

Here, the authors report the incidence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) and assess potential clinical characteristics and biomarkers to predict CDI in 1,007 patients of 50 years and above receiving newly initiated antibiotic treatment.

Transfer of a host’s microbiota by faecal microbiota transplantation has shown benefit in the context of recurrent Clostridioides difficle infection. Here the authors shows the inflammatory status of the recipient can impact on engraftment and the efficacy of the introduced microbiota in a model of C.difficile infection.