Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis indicates genotypic heterogeneity among Campylobacter upsaliensis strains

Abstract

To determine the genomic relatedness among a selection of animal and human Campylobacter upsaliensis isolates, macrorestriction profiles were generated for 20 C. upsaliensis strains, among 7 serogroups, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). XhoI, SalI and SacII restriction enzyme profiles indicated genomic heterogeneity among strains. Using XhoI and SacII restriction enzyme digestion, genomic similarities between some pairs of strains were Lior serogroup specific. The genomic sizes of these isolates varied from 1.74 to 2.09 Mb. These results demonstrate molecular heterogeneity of this species similar to that found among Helicobacter pylori isolates. Among C. upsaliensis strains, PFGE is highly discriminatory and should prove a useful molecular typing method for epidemiological purposes.

Genomic Heterogeneity and O-Antigenic Diversity of Campylobacter upsaliensis and Campylobacter helveticus Strains Isolated from Dogs and Cats in Germany

“…These data are in accordance with previous reports (4,39,57) and may be due to some properties of Campylobacter, which enable them to take up DNA from the environment and integrate it into the genome or undergo changes within the genome by rearrangement of autogenous DNA (15,18,29,54,55,56). Beyond that, macrorestriction analysis with SmaI revealed a certain degree of association between serotypes and genotypic similarities.…”

“…Previous reports using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to characterize bacteria, including Campylobacter jejuni (40,59), C. upsaliensis (4), and Campylobacter hyointestinalis (47), on the genomic level demonstrated the high discriminatory power of this method and its usefulness for epidemiological studies. Flagellin gene polymorphism (32,33,38,50) or the combination of macrorestriction analyis and serotyping according to heat-stable or heat-labile antigens has also been performed to discriminate C. jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains from each other (40,50).…”

Speciation of Campylobacter coli , C. jejuni , C. helveticus , C. lari , C. sputorum , and C. upsaliensis by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry

“…The common ion at 9,504 Da was observed in all of the C. upsaliensis MALDI-TOF MS profiles. The four C. upsaliensis SIBI types are consistent with the genomic heterogeneity reported previously for animal and human (8,40,57) and, specifically, dog and cat C. upsaliensis strains (40,54). Twelve of 13 dog and cat C. upsaliensis strains in our study were from the United States, and all were C. upsaliensis SIBI type 1.…”

Genotyping of Campylobacter spp

“…The blocks containing purified and digested DNA are directly loaded onto agarose gels, which are electrophoresed by using conditions under which the orientation of the electrical field is changed in a pulsed manner (21). PFGE was initially used for C. jejuni (98), and the technique was later adapted for C. coli, Campylobacter hyointestinalis, Campylobacter fetus, and Campylobacter upsaliensis (8,26,81).…”

“…Satisfactory results have been obtained with SmaI, SalI, KpnI, ApaI, and BssHII. XhoI appears to be useful for C. upsalenensis (8). Using more than one enzyme significantly increases the discriminatory power of the technique (29,37,54).…”