title: A SpoT polymorphism correlates with chill stress survival and is prevalent in clinical isolates of Campylobacter jejuni.
abstract: Resistance of Campylobacter jejuni to environmental stress is regarded as a risk factor for the transmission of C. jejuni from poultry or poultry products to humans. So far, the mechanisms underlying the capacity of C. jejuni to survive environmental stress conditions are not fully understood. In this study, we searched for polymorphisms in C. jejuni genes, potentially involved in resistance to chill stress. To this end, we assessed 3 groups of C. jejuni isolates (clinical, retail chicken meat, and feces) for survival of experimentally induced chill stress. For each isolate we sequenced 3 genes encoding the C. jejuni sigma factors FliA, RpoD, and RpoN as well as the genes for the transcriptional regulator SpoT and the periplasmic protein HtrA. Data suggest a higher prevalence of a specific polymorphism in spoT in clinical isolates compared with poultry meat or farm isolates. Moreover, this genotype correlated with enhanced survival of chill stress. The observation that the prevalence of this SNP is relatively high in clinical isolates, which most likely have been exposed to multiple forms of stress, suggest that this SNP may be a biomarker for enhanced survival of stress.
authors.affiliation: Wageningen UR Food and Biobased Research, PO Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands masja.nieropgroot@wur.nl.
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Nierop Groot
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO Box 3720 BA, Bilthoven, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van Pelt
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: van der Hulst-van Arkel
authors.affiliation: Wageningen UR Food and Biobased Research, PO Box 17, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Leeuw
authors.affiliation: Livestock Research, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: H C A
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Widjaja
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, the Netherlands Livestock Research, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.affiliation: Central Veterinary Institute, Wageningen UR, PO Box 65, 8200 AB, Lelystad, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van der Wal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002645:Chickens; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005819:Genetic Markers
keywords: Campylobacter jejuni; chill stress; real-time PCR; spot polymorphism; survival