title: Packaging of Campylobacter jejuni into Multilamellar Bodies by the Ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis.
abstract: Campylobacter jejuniis the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Transmission to humans occurs through consumption of contaminated food or water. The conditions affecting the persistence of C. jejuniin the environment are poorly understood. Some protozoa package and excrete bacteria into multilamellar bodies (MLBs). Packaged bacteria are protected from deleterious conditions, which increases their survival. We hypothesized that C. jejuni could be packaged under aerobic conditions by the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellanii or the ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis, both of which are able to package other pathogenic bacteria.A. castellanii did not produce MLBs containing C. jejuni In contrast, when incubated with T. pyriformis,C. jejuni was ingested, packaged in MLBs, and then expelled into the milieu. The viability of the bacteria inside MLBs was confirmed by microscopic analyses. The kinetics of C. jejuni culturability showed that packaging increased the survival of C. jejuniup to 60 h, in contrast to the strong survival defect seen in ciliate-free culture. This study suggests that T. pyriformis may increase the risk of persistence of C. jejuniin the environment and its possible transmission between different reservoirs in food and potable water through packaging.
authors.affiliation: McGill University, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Trigui
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Pavillon Charles-Eugène-Marchand, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (Hôpital Laval), Quebec City, QC, Canada Département de Biochimie, de Microbiologie, et de Bio-informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Valérie E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Paquet
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes, Pavillon Charles-Eugène-Marchand, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (Hôpital Laval), Quebec City, QC, Canada Département de Biochimie, de Microbiologie, et de Bio-informatique, Faculté des Sciences et de Génie, Université Laval, Quebec City, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Steve J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Charette
authors.affiliation: McGill University, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada sebastien.faucher2@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Sébastien P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Faucher
mesh_terms: D048248:Acanthamoeba castellanii / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D000332:Aerobiosis; D000818:Animals; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000635:transmission*; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004199:Disease Vectors; D005516:Food Microbiology; D056265:Microbial Interactions; D050296:Microbial Viability; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D013769:Tetrahymena pyriformis / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply