Location: Produce Safety and Microbiology Research
Project Number: 2030-42000-055-011-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2022
End Date: Apr 30, 2024
Objective:
The objectives of the project are:
1) Characterize genomes of Campylobacter strains that cause disease in humans as well as features associated with persistent asymptomatic carriage.
2) Estimate the human disease attributed to domestic and industrial poultry and swine through source attribution models using complementary approaches of frequency matching and population genetics-based approaches.
Approach:
ARS will construct set of whole genome sequences of an extant collection of Campylobacter strains that caused persistent human infections in a rural community within Peru. Genomes and genomic features from these persistent strains will be compared to other local strains causing sporadic, limited gastroenteritis and a global reference dataset of acute gastroenteritis causing isolates. The working hypothesis is that there are genomic features in persistent infections that we can identify and link metabolic and antigenic features to persistence in humans.
