MLST clustering ofCampylobacter jejuniisolates from patients with gastroenteritis, reactive arthritis and Guillain–Barré syndrome

Abstract

Aims: To determine the diversity and population structure of Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) isolates from Danish patients and to examine the association between multilocus sequence typing types and different clinical symptoms including gastroenteritis (GI), Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) and reactive arthritis (RA). Methods and Results: Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to characterize 122 isolates, including 18 from patients with RA and 8 from patients with GBS. The GI and RA isolates were collected in Denmark during 2002–2003 and the GBS isolates were obtained from other countries. In overall, 51 sequence types (STs) were identified within 18 clonal complexes (CCs). Of these three CCs, ST‐21, ST‐45 and ST‐22 clonal complexes accounted for 64 percent of all isolates. The GBS isolates in this study significantly grouped into the ST‐22 clonal complex, consistent with the PubMLST database isolates. There was no significant clustering of the RA isolates. Conclusions: Isolates from Denmark were found to be highly genetically diverse. GBS isolates grouped significantly with clonal complex ST‐22, but the absence of clustering of RA isolates indicated that the phylogenetic background for this sequela could not be reconstructed using variation in MLST loci. Possibly, putative RA‐associated genes may vary, by recombination or expression differences, independent of MLST loci. Significance and Impact of the Study: MLST typing of C. jejuni isolates from Danish patients with gastroenteritis confirmed that the diversity of clones in Denmark is comparable to that in other European countries. Furthermore, a verification of the grouping of GBS isolates compared to RA isolates provides information about evolution of the bacterial population resulting in this important sequela.

Multilocus Sequence Typing Confirms Wild Birds as the Source of a Campylobacter Outbreak Associated with the Consumption of Raw Peas

“…This observation indicates that the development of GBS after Campylobacter infection could vary depending on host factors, even when individuals are infected with seemingly genetically identical strains. Therefore, a correlation between MLST genotypes and the onset of GBS could be difficult to determine, though several studies have found significant associations (38,39). Nonetheless, our result has added further support to the described association between infection with HS:41 and the development of GBS, even from a wild bird source.…”

Galleria mellonella as an infection model for Campylobacter jejuni virulence

“…A number of studies have sought to establish whether there is a link between MLST type and the development of postinfectious complications (Dingle et al, 2001;Nielsen et al, 2010;Islam et al, 2009). It was noted that the ST22 complex is over-represented in isolates from patients who have contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome; no GuillainBarré-related isolates have been shown to carry ST45, despite it being a common sequence type (Dingle et al, 2001;Nielsen et al, 2010). No sequence types have been found to be exclusive for clinical outcomes (Islam et al, 2009).…”

Campylobacter sequence typing databases: applications and future prospects

“…Two studies have highlighted the relative over-representation of the ST-22 complex in neuropathology-associated isolates (Dingle et al, 2001a;Nielsen et al, 2010): this complex also accounted for 2/10 of the GBS-associated isolates but none of 39 gastroenteritis isolates from Bangladesh. In addition the ST-403 complex, represented by two different STs, accounted for 5/10 GBS isolates as well as 26 % of gastroenteritis isolates from the same country (Islam et al, 2009).…”

“…These conditions are relatively rare, and well-described isolate collections of associated Campylobacter are small in number and contain relatively few isolates. Nevertheless, the application of sequence-based characterization has enabled comparative studies of the genotypes of isolates from uncomplicated gastroenteritis with data from various collections of Campylobacter isolates associated with GBS, MSF and reactive arthritis obtained in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Bangladesh (Dingle et al, 2001a;Islam et al, 2009;Nielsen et al, 2010). These studies show that the isolates from patients with neuropathology are diverse and broadly similar to those from gastroenteritis, supporting the suggestion that the genetic factors responsible for neuropathology are reassorted among C. jejuni strains by horizontal genetic exchange, made on the basis of hybridization studies of 1712 genes in 56 isolates associated with neuropathology (Taboada et al, 2007).…”