title: Molecular epidemiology, virulence determinants and antimicrobial resistance ofCampylobacterspreading in retail chicken meat in Central China.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Campylobacterspecies are the major food-borne pathogens which could cause bacterial gastroenteritis in humans. Contaminated chicken products have been recognized as the primary vehicles ofCampylobactertransmission to human beings. In this study, the prevalence ofCampylobacterin retail chicken meat in Central China was investigated, and the isolates were further characterized using molecular approaches and tested for antibiotic resistance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 302 chicken samples purchased from April 2014 to April 2015 were tested. The level ofCampylobactercontamination was enumerated by most probable number-PCR (MPN-PCR). TheCampylobacterpositive rate was 17.2% (52/302), with bacterial count varying from 3.6 to 360 MPN/g in positive samples. A total of 52Campylobacterstrains, including 40Campylobacter jejuniand 12Campylobacter coli, were isolated from the positive samples. To examine the genetic diversity of the isolates, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) technology was applied, which identified 23 sequence types (STs) belonging to seven clonal complexes (CCs) and unassigned. Among them, the dominant CCs ofC. jejuniincluded CC-353 and CC-464, and the dominant CCs ofC. coliwere CC-828 and CC-1150. Antibiotic resistance analysis showed that all of the isolates were resistant to norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. 23 virulence-associated genes were tested in the isolates, which showed that the number of virulence-associated genes detected in theC. jejuniisolates ranged from 16 to 21, while in most of theC. coliisolates ranged from 12 to 16. Virulence-associated genes,flaA,flgB,flgE2,fliM,fliYandcadFwere detected in all isolates. VirB11, however, was not detected in any of the isolates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the contamination level and molecular biological features ofCampylobacterstrains in retail chicken meat in Central China, which showed high genetic diversity and remarkable antibiotic resistance. This study provided scientific data for the risk assessment and evaluation ofCampylobactercontamination in retail chicken products.
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Tengfei
authors: T
authors: Zhang
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Qingping
authors: Q
authors: Luo
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China ; College of Animal Science, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 434025 China.
authors: Yiluo
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Hubei Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, Wuhan, 430070 China.
authors: Tingting
authors: T
authors: Li
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Guoyuan
authors: G
authors: Wen
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Rongrong
authors: R
authors: Zhang
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Ling
authors: L
authors: Luo
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Qin
authors: Q
authors: Lu
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Diyun
authors: D
authors: Ai
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Hongcai
authors: H
authors: Wang
authors: Hubei Key Laboratory of Animal Embryo and Molecular Breeding, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064 China.
authors: Huabin
authors: H
authors: Shao
keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Campylobacter; Chicken meat; MLST; Virulence-associated genes