Role of Campylobacter jejuni respiratory oxidases and reductases in host colonization - PubMed (original) (raw)

Comparative Study

. 2008 Mar;74(5):1367-75.

doi: 10.1128/AEM.02261-07. Epub 2008 Jan 11.

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Comparative Study

Role of Campylobacter jejuni respiratory oxidases and reductases in host colonization

Rebecca A Weingarten et al. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008 Mar.

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of human food-borne bacterial gastroenteritis. The C. jejuni genome sequence predicts a branched electron transport chain capable of utilizing multiple electron acceptors. Mutants were constructed by disrupting the coding regions of the respiratory enzymes nitrate reductase (napA::Cm), nitrite reductase (nrfA::Cm), dimethyl sulfoxide, and trimethylamine N-oxide reductase (termed Cj0264::Cm) and the two terminal oxidases, a cyanide-insensitive oxidase (cydA::Cm) and cbb3-type oxidase (ccoN::Cm). Each strain was characterized for the loss of the associated enzymatic function in vitro. The strains were then inoculated into 1-week-old chicks, and the cecal contents were assayed for the presence of C. jejuni 2 weeks postinoculation. cydA::Cm and Cj0264c::Cm strains colonized as well as the wild type; napA::Cm and nrfA::Cm strains colonized at levels significantly lower than the wild type. The ccoN::Cm strain was unable to colonize the chicken; no colonies were recovered at the end of the experiment. While there appears to be a role for anaerobic respiration in host colonization, oxygen is the most important respiratory acceptor for C. jejuni in the chicken cecum.

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Figures

FIG. 1.

FIG. 1.

Gene organization of the alternative respiratory pathway operons of C. jejuni. Also shown are the insertion sites of the chloramphenicol cassette (hatched arrows) used for mutagenesis. The direction of the arrow indicates the transcriptional orientation of the gene. Unrelated genes directly downstream of the genes of interest are indicated with black arrows.

FIG. 2.

FIG. 2.

(A) Anaerobic growth of C. jejuni NCTC 11168 (circles) and the napA::Cm (triangles) and nrfA::Cm (squares) strains. Cultures grown in MHF (solid symbols) or MHF plus 10 mM NaNO3 (open symbols) were incubated at 37°C under anaerobic conditions. The growth curve is representative of three independent growth curves. (B) Nitrite concentrations in the supernatants from cultures of the wild type (white bars) and the nrfA::Cm strain (black bars).

FIG. 3.

FIG. 3.

Anaerobic growth of C. jejuni NCTC 11168 (open symbols) and the Cj0264c::Cm strain (closed symbols). Cultures grown in MHF (circles), MHF plus 10 mM NaNO3 (triangles), or MHF plus 5 mM DMSO (squares) were incubated at 37°C under anaerobic conditions. The growth curve is representative of three independent growth curves.

FIG. 4.

FIG. 4.

Anaerobic growth of C. jejuni NCTC 11168 (closed squares) and the cydA::Cm (open circles) and ccoN::Cm (open triangles) strains. Cultures grown in MHF plus 10 mM NaNO3 were incubated at 37°C under anaerobic conditions.

FIG. 5.

FIG. 5.

Chicken colonization abilities of various strains. (A) CFU/gram cecal contents of C. jejuni wild type (square) and the napA::Cm (triangle) and nrfA::Cm (inverted triangle) strains. (B) CFU/gram cecal contents of the wild type (squares) and the cydA::Cm (inverted triangles) and Cj0264c::Cm (diamonds) strains. The horizontal bars represent the median value for each group. *, P < 0.05 compared to the wild type.

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