C. difficile, emerging pathogens, genomics, and antimicrobial resistance

A new study published in the peer-reviewed OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology identified genes for virulence and antimicrobial resistance in two bacteria that co-occur with C. difficile, suggesting these pathogens as emerging potential threats in planetary health. Click here to read the article now.

Thokur Sreepathy Murali, PhD, Ankit Singh Tanwar, Padival Shruptha and colleagues from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, and co-author Angela Brand, MD, PhD, MPH from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, performed comparative genome analyses of three Clostridia species, C. difficile, C. butyricum, and C. tertium.

C. difficile can cause diarrhea, colitis, sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction. C. butyricum and C. tertium, which reside in the gut, can harbor toxin/virulence genes, and thus, could pose a threat to human health.

Studies such as this one “will further improve our understanding of development of antimicrobial resistance, provide new avenues in genomic monitoring of emerging pathogens and offer better treatment strategies for crippling infectious diseases,” state the investigators.

“The study provides a timely application of comparative genomics in planetary health and opens up new avenues for diagnostics and therapeutics innovation. The findings unpack the potential threats and interactions of three Clostridia species. I welcome new manuscripts on multi-omics applications in planetary health for peer-review in the journal,” says Vural Özdemir, MD, PhD, DABCP, Editor-in-Chief of OMICS.

About the Journal

OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology is an authoritative and highly innovative peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published monthly online, addressing the latest advances at the intersection of postgenomics medicine, biotechnology and global society, including the integration of multi-omics knowledge, data analyses and modeling, and applications of high-throughput approaches to study complex biological and societal problems. Public policy, governance and societal aspects of the large-scale biology and 21st century data-enabled sciences are also peer-reviewed. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology website.
 
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a global media company dedicated to creating, curating, and delivering impactful peer-reviewed research and authoritative content services to advance the fields of biotechnology and the life sciences, specialized clinical medicine, and public health and policy. For complete information, please visit the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. website.