http://www.pathogenomics-era.net/index.php

About CDIFFGEN Project	Consortium
CDIFFGEN Pathogenomic of increased Clostridium difficile virulence Clostridium difficile is increasingly associated with infections in hospitals and in the community. Several EU countries and some non EU countries are experiencing emergence of hypervirulent type(s) of C. difficile causing disease with higher mortality, severity and increased relapse rates. The overall objective of this ERA NET PathoGenoMics project is to use genomic approaches to study C. difficile groups with increased virulence and subsequently analyze their genomic characteristics in terms of the presence of known and new virulence factors, regulation of their expression and genomic heterogeneity. Hypervirulent type BI/NAP1/027 has gained most attention and is currently detected in sporadic cases or outbreaks in most EU countries. However, several other types are associated with increased virulence, such as ribotype 017 (A-B+ strain) or ribotype 053 which is currently described only in Austria. One of the aims of proposed project is also to adjust the PCR ribotyping method into an interchangeable format. This will be achieved by exchanging the agarose gel electrophoresis with more precise and repeatable method, capillary gel electrophoresis, and establishment of internet based site for data analysis.	Maja Rupnik Institute of Public Health Maribor Centre for Microbiology Maribor Bruno Dupuy Institut Pasteur Paris Frederic Barbut Laboratoire "Clostridium difficile" associé au CNR des Anaérobies Faculté de Médecine Pierre et Marie Curie Paris Adriano O. Henriques Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica Oeiras Alexander Indra Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety Vienna Wolfgang Liebl Technische Universität München Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie Freising

About CDIFFGEN Project

Consortium

CDIFFGEN

Pathogenomic of increased Clostridium difficile virulence

Clostridium difficile is increasingly associated with infections in hospitals and in the community. Several EU countries and some non EU countries are experiencing emergence of hypervirulent type(s) of C. difficile causing disease with higher mortality, severity and increased relapse rates.

The overall objective of this ERA NET PathoGenoMics project is to use genomic approaches to study C. difficile groups with increased virulence and subsequently analyze their genomic characteristics in terms of the presence of known and new virulence factors, regulation of their expression and genomic heterogeneity.

Hypervirulent type BI/NAP1/027 has gained most attention and is currently detected in sporadic cases or outbreaks in most EU countries. However, several other types are associated with increased virulence, such as ribotype 017 (A-B+ strain) or ribotype 053 which is currently described only in Austria.

One of the aims of proposed project is also to adjust the PCR ribotyping method into an interchangeable format. This will be achieved by exchanging the agarose gel electrophoresis with more precise and repeatable method, capillary gel electrophoresis, and establishment of internet based site for data analysis.