Adaptation of Campylobacter jejuni NCTC11168 to High-Level Colonization of the Avian Gastrointestinal Tract

Abstract

The genome sequence of the human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni NCTC11168 has been determined recently, but studies on colonization and persistence in chickens have been limited due to reports that this strain is a poor colonizer. Experimental colonization and persistence studies were carried out with C. jejuni NCTC11168 by using 2-week-old Light Sussex chickens possessing an acquired natural gut flora. After inoculation, NCTC11168 initially colonized the intestine poorly. However, after 5 weeks we observed adaptation to high-level colonization, which was maintained after in vitro passage. The adapted strain exhibited greatly increased motility. A second strain, C. jejuni 11168H, which had been selected under in vitro conditions for increased motility (A. V. Karlyshev, D. Linton, N. A. Gregson, and B. W. Wren, Microbiology 148:473-480, 2002), also showed high-level intestinal colonization. The levels of colonization were equivalent to those of six other strains, assessed under the same conditions. There were four mutations in C. jejuni 11168H that reduced colonization; maf5, flaA (motility and flagellation), and kpsM (capsule deficiency) eliminated colonization, whereas pglH (general glycosylation system deficient) reduced but did not eliminate colonization. This study showed that there was colonization of the avian intestinal tract by a Campylobacter strain having a known genome sequence, and it provides a model for colonization and persistence studies with specific mutations.

High-Throughput Sequencing of Campylobacter jejuni Insertion Mutant Libraries Reveals mapA as a Fitness Factor for Chicken Colonization

“…This determinant has previously been shown to be required for resistance of C. jejuni to the bile acid sodium deoxycholate, making it required for survival within the chicken gastrointestinal tract (17). Additionally, insertions in genes required for capsule biosynthesis were absent from cecal samples, including mutations in genes required for capsule transport, kpsC and kpsD (18). Insertions in genes required for stress response-catalase (katA), for example-or energy production and metabolism (such as cytochrome d ubiquinol oxidase subunit II [cydB]) were also absent from cecal samples.…”

Evaluation and optimization of microbial DNA extraction from fecal samples of wild Antarctic bird species

“…In this study, C. jejuni was used and the optimized extraction method yielded high-quality DNA both for bacterial detection by endpoint PCR and accurate bacterial quantification using qPCR. The majority of earlier studies describing birds as models for C. jejuni infection experiments have quantified the bacteria by plate count [18,44–46]. In contrast, fewer studies have utilized culture-independent techniques to detect and quantify the bacterium [14,47].…”

Campylobacter jejuni adhere to and invade chicken intestinal epithelial cells in vitro

“…The present view is that the intestinal microbiota are maintained in a dynamic relationship with the host involving a complex 'trialogue' between micro-organism, epithelium and mucosal immune system (Bourlioux et al, 2003;Falk et al, 1998). Recent work has started to uncover some important bacterial factors necessary for successful avian colonization by C. jejuni (Hendrixson & DiRita, 2004;Jones et al, 2004;Karlyshev et al, 2004;Nachamkin et al, 1993). However, the specific host factors responsible for establishing and maintaining the affiliation of micro-organisms with the intestinal environment remain largely unknown.…”