Longitudinal Study of Campylobacter jejuni Bacteriophages and Their Hosts from Broiler Chickens

Abstract

A longitudinal study of bacteriophages and their hosts was carried out at a broiler house that had been identified as having a population of Campylobacter-specific bacteriophages. Cloacal and excreta samples were collected from three successive broiler flocks reared in the same barn. Campylobacter jejuni was isolated from each flock, whereas bacteriophages could be isolated from flocks 1 and 2 but were not isolated from flock 3. The bacteriophages isolated from flocks 1 and 2 were closely related to each other in terms of host range, morphology, genome size, and genetic content. All Campylobacter isolates from flock 1 were genotypically indistinguishable by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). PFGE and multilocus sequence typing indicated that this C. jejuni type was maintained from flock 1 to flock 2 but was largely superseded by three genetically distinct C. jejuni types insensitive to the resident bacteriophages. All isolates from the third batch of birds were insensitive to bacteriophages and genotypically distinct. These results are significant because this is the first study of an environmental population of C. jejuni bacteriophages and their influence on the Campylobacter populations of broiler house chickens. The role of developing bacteriophage resistance was investigated as this is a possible obstacle to the use of bacteriophage therapy to reduce the numbers of campylobacters in chickens. In this broiler house succession was largely due to incursion of new genotypes rather than to de novo development of resistance.

Phages as Therapeutic Tools to Control Major Foodborne Pathogens: Campylobacter and Salmonella

“…It was also showed that, like Campylobacter, their phages are also transferred between flocks (Connerton et al, 2004). Moreover, phages were also recovered from chilled retail poultry, meaning that these phages can survive on retail chicken under commercial storage condition (Atterbury et al, 2003b).…”

Characterization and Application of Lytic Bacteriophages against <i>Campylobacter</i> <i>jejuni</i> Isolated from Poultry in Japan

“…In some reports, Campylobacter phages have been isolated from chicken samples meat samples, intestine samples, fecal contents, and excreta Atterbury et al, 2003b;Carvalho et al, 2010b;Connerton et al, 2004;Firlieyanti et al, 2016;Hansen et al, 2007;Hwang et al, 2009;Janež et al, 2014;Owens et al, 2013 . To date, however, there are no reports on the isolation of bacteriophages against Campylobacter in Japan.…”

“…The best samples for isolation of phages are thought to be environmental materials where the host bacterium is predominant Janež and Loc-Carrillo, 2013 . Therefore, Campylobacter phages have often been isolated from chicken samples with host strain C. jejuni NCTC 12662, which is highly sensitive to C. jejuni and C. coli phages Atterbury et al, 2003b;Connerton et al, 2004;ElShibiny et al, 2005;Firlieyanti et al, 2016;Hansen et al, 2007;Hwang et al, 2009;Owens et al, 2013 . On the other hand, susceptibility of Campylobacter strains that contaminate poultry in Japan to phages seems to differ from the strains in other countries.…”

Campylobacter jejuni Group III Phage CP81 Contains Many T4-Like Genes without Belonging to the T4-Type Phage Group: Implications for the Evolution of T4 Phages

“…Group III Campylobacter phages have been isolated in the United Kingdom, Denmark, and South Korea (22,26,30). Perhaps due to chemical modification of bases in the phage DNA (4,11), Campylobacter phage genomes are highly refractory to genomic analysis. Therefore, no group III phage genome sequences have yet been reported.…”

“…Unfortunately, up to now, genome sequences of Campylobacter phages are scarce. Most Campylobacter phages have been investigated only with respect to their host ranges, morphology, and genome size (3,4,11,16,22,26,30). Almost all Campylobacter phages isolated thus far are members of the family Myoviridae.…”