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Title: Genomotype Analyses for the Investigation of Campylobacter spp. Isolates with Distinct flaA Alleles of Recovered from Iceland

Author
item AKINS, E - UGA
item Hiett, Kelli
item STINTZI, A - UNIV OF OTTAWA
item Seal, Bruce
item LOWMAN, R - CANADIAN FOOD INSP AG
item Stern, Norman
item HARRISON, M - UGA

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/20/2006
Publication Date: 2/22/2007
Citation: Akins, E.D., Hiett, K.L., Stintzi, A., Seal, B.S., Lowman, R., Stern, N.J., Harrison, M.A. 2007. Genomotype Analyses for the Investigation of Campylobacter spp. Isolates with Distinct flaA Alleles of Recovered from Iceland. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Gram-negative bacteria, Campylobacter jejuni, is the leading bacterial etiology of acute gastroenteritis in humans. Evidence implicates poultry as a potential source of the organism for human illness. Campylobacter spp. isolates vary in their virulence properties and recent comparative phylogenomic investigations revealed that particular biomarkers (such as serine protease and flagellin glycosylation loci) present in Campylobacter spp. isolates recovered from human illness were not present in isolates recovered from livestock (and other agricultural sources such as poultry). In an effort to identify biomarkers associated different hosts, as well as determine if flaA SVR DNA sequence analysis is indicative of virulence, sixty-one C. jejuni isolates with defined spatial and temporal backgrounds, originally recovered in Iceland were identified and selected for cell culture invasion analyses, flaA DNA sequence analysis, and genomotype analysis. Genes previously determined in our lab to be differentially present were serine protease, DMSO reductase chain A, and tripeptide transporters. The identification of biomarkers predictive of human infection, as well as severity of infection, would allow for the development of intervention strategies such that the more virulent Campylobacter spp. isolates are preferentially targeted, thus reducing human illness as a result of poultry consumption.