Date of Award

8-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Microbiology

Committee Chair/Advisor

Dr. Anna Seekatz

Committee Member

Dr. Kristi Whitehead

Committee Member

Dr. David Karig

Abstract

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are products of bacterial fermentation that help maintain important gut functions such as the intestinal barrier, signaling, and immune homeostasis. The main SCFAs acetate, propionate, and butyrate have demonstrated beneficial effects for the host, including importance in combatting infections caused by pathogens such as Clostridioides difficile. C. difficile infection (CDI) is a public health concern and causes 30,000 deaths each year mainly due to the overuse of antibiotics. Despite the potential role of SCFAs in mitigating C. difficile infection, their direct effect on C. difficile remains unclear. Through a set of in-vitro experiments, we investigated how SCFAs influence C. difficile growth, sporulation, and toxin production directly. Our data shows that butyrate decreased growth but increased sporulation and toxin production in C. difficile strain 630. RNA-Seq analysis showed that butyrate influenced the expression of cellular processes/signaling, information storage/processing, cell division and chromosome partitioning, and amino acid metabolism genes/pathways. Collectively, these data suggest that butyrate influences C. difficile growth and virulence by modifying its metabolism.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.