%0 Journal Article %A Dawson, Lisa F. %A Stabler, Richard A. %A Wren, Brendan W. %T Assessing the role of p-cresol tolerance in Clostridium difficile %D 2008 %J Journal of Medical Microbiology, %V 57 %N 6 %P 745-749 %@ 1473-5644 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/jmm.0.47744-0 %K CDAD, Clostridium difficile-associated disease %K pHPA, p-hydroxyphenylacetate %I Microbiology Society, %X Clostridium difficile is an important nosocomial pathogen, resulting in antibiotic-associated disease ranging from mild diarrhoea to the life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis. Upon antibiotic exposure, it is believed that the normal bowel microflora of patients is disrupted, allowing C. difficile to proliferate. Significantly, C. difficile is among only a few bacteria able to ferment tyrosine to p-cresol, a phenolic compound that is toxic to other microbes via its ability to interfere with metabolism. Therefore, the ability of different C. difficile strains to produce and tolerate p-cresol may play an important role in the development and severity of C. difficile-associated disease. In this study, it was demonstrated that two C. difficile hypervirulent 027 strains (Stoke Mandeville and BI-16) are more tolerant to p-cresol than other C. difficile strains including 630, CF4 and CD196. Surprising, it was shown that Clostridium sordellii also has a high tolerance to p-cresol, suggesting an overlap in the tolerance pathways in these clostridial species. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.47744-0