Molecular characterization of Campylobacter jejuni clones: a basis for epidemiologic investigation.
A total of 814 isolates of the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni were characterized by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and analysis of the variation of two cell-surface components: the heat-stable (HS) serotyping antigen and the flagella protein FlaA short variable region. We identified 379 combinations of the MLST loci (sequence types) and 215 combinations of the cell-surface components among these isolates, which had been obtained from human disease, animals, food, and the environment. Despite this diversity, 748 (92%) of the isolates belonged to one of 17 clonal complexes, 6 of which contained many (318, 63%) of the human disease isolates. Several clonal complexes exhibited associations with isolation source or particular cell-surface components; however, the latter were poorly predictive of clonal complex. These data demonstrate that the clonal complex, as defined by MLST, is an epidemiologically relevant unit for both long and short-term investigations of C. jejuni epidemiology.
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Kate E
KE
Dingle
Frances M
FM
Colles
Roisin
R
Ure
Jaap A
JA
Wagenaar
Birgitta
B
Duim
Frederick J
FJ
Bolton
Andrew J
AJ
Fox
David R A
DR
Wareing
Martin C J
MC
Maiden
D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005408:Flagellin / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D005408:Flagellin; C067138:flaA protein, bacteria