Campylobacter jejunias a secondary colonizer of poultry biofilms

Abstract

Aims: The objective of this study was to determine if survival of culturable Campylobacter jejuni outside the host was increased by entrapment in pre‐established biofilms. Methods and Results: Campylobacter jejuni was inoculated into four biofilm populations isolated from poultry environments and cultured at three temperatures. Survival of culturable Camp. jejuni in some pre‐established biofilms was extended vs survival of culturable Camp. jejuni in broth. But some biofilms were detrimental to survival of culturable Camp. jejuni. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis indicated differences in bacterial profiles depending on initial source and temperature of culturing, which may have had impacts on survival of culturable Camp. jejuni. Further investigation showed no evidence of interspecies cell signalling indicating that secondary colonization was only physical. Conclusions: The results of this study show Camp. jejuni’s attachment to surfaces is facilitated by pre‐established biofilms and survival of culturable Camp. jejuni may be extended in some pre‐established biofilms, but these biofilms do not fully explain long‐term survival of culturable Camp. jejuni outside hosts. Significance and Impact of the Study: This study provides new information concerning survival of culturable Camp. jejuni outside the host and shows biofilms may be important in transmission and prevalence of Camp. jejuni.

Campylobacter jejuni 81-176 forms distinct microcolonies on in vitro-infected human small intestinal tissue prior to biofilm formation

“…Published work relates to the formation of biofilms in the environment as a mechanism of persistence and possible transmission and survival within the poultry house (Howard et al, 2009;Svensson et al, 2009). Water in poultry houses has been shown to be a possible source of infection for birds and it has also been shown that C. jejuni is present in biofilms in drinking apparatus (Hanning et al, 2008). The biofilm consists of aggregates and planktonic bacteria that live in a community consisting of either a single species or, when present in the environment, multiple species.…”

Does Campylobacter jejuni Form Biofilms in Food-Related Environments?

“…A clear understanding of how, and to what extent, C. jejuni forms biofilms on abiotic surfaces is important in order to develop strategies to prevent the contamination of food products by these bacteria on food processing surfaces. Investigations into the ability of C. jejuni to form biofilms on abiotic surfaces in the laboratory have been conducted (4,19,(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), but compared to most other bacterial food-borne pathogens, these studies are relatively few and still in their infancy. Even fewer studies that support the premise that C. jejuni can form biofilms on abiotic surfaces under typical environment conditions have been conducted (31).…”

“…jejuni can form monospecies biofilms when grown in vitro in culture media on a variety of surfaces, including stainless steel (19,25,26,32), glass (4,19,30), nitrocellulose membranes (19), and various plastic surfaces (25,27,28,31,33,34). Not all studies confirm this pathogen's ability to form biofilms on all surfaces, and findings to the contrary are not uncommon.…”

“…This method is one of the most commonly used methods to study biofilms and is based on the principle that crystal violet binds to negatively charged surface molecules that are found on both the bacteria and the extracellular matrix of the biofilm (37,38). Other techniques, such as cell enumeration, have also been used to study C. jejuni biofilms (25,31). Both the crystal violet staining and cell enumeration methods quantify the biofilms based on the attachment of the cells to the surfaces but do not demonstrate the presence or nature of specific biofilm structures.…”

“…The survival of C. jejuni outside its host is affected by temperature (25,28,30,42). Chan et al (42) found that survival of planktonic C. jejuni is enhanced at low temperatures.…”