''Clostridioides'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of Gram-positive bacteria, which includes ''

Clostridioides difficile ''Clostridioides difficile'' ( syn. ''Clostridium difficile'') is a bacterium that is well known for causing serious diarrheal infections, and may also cause colon cancer. Also known as ''C. difficile'', or ''C. diff'' (), is Gram-positive spe ...

'', a human

pathogen In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...

causing an infectious diarrhea. __TOC__

Taxonomy

The genus ''Clostridioides'' was created to describe a few species formerly in the genus '' Clostridium'' which have been shown to be their own genetically distinct genus using 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. However, both names are still in use and valid under the

International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes The International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) formerly the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) or Bacteriological Code (BC) governs the scientific names for Bacteria and Archaea.P. H. A. Sneath, 2003. A short hist ...

Description

They are

obligate anaerobe Obligate anaerobes are microorganisms killed by normal atmospheric concentrations of oxygen (20.95% O2). Oxygen tolerance varies between species, with some species capable of surviving in up to 8% oxygen, while others lose viability in environme ...

s capable of producing endospores. The normal, reproducing cells of ''Clostridioides'', called the vegetative form, are

rod-shaped A bacillus (), also called a bacilliform bacterium or often just a rod (when the context makes the sense clear), is a rod-shaped bacterium or archaeon. Bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name '' Baci ...

, which gives them their name, from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

κλωστήρ or spindle. ''Clostridioides'' endospores, like ''Clostridium'' endospores, have a distinct bowling pin or bottle shape, distinguishing them from other bacterial endospores, which are usually ovoid in shape.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27438828 Peptostreptococcaceae Gram-positive bacteria Gut flora bacteria Pathogenic bacteria Bacteria genera Taxa described in 2016