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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2005, p. 3334-3340, Vol. 43, No. 7
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.7.3334-3340.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Genetic Divergence of Campylobacter fetus Strains of Mammal and Reptile Origins

Zheng-Chao Tu,1 William Eisner,3 Barry N. Kreiswirth,3 and Martin J. Blaser1,2,4*

Departments of Medicine,1 Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York,2 Public Health Research Institute Tuberculosis Center for Public Health, Newark, New Jersey,3 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, New York, New York4

Received 20 January 2005/ Returned for modification 3 March 2005/ Accepted 28 March 2005

Campylobacter fetus is a gram-negative bacterial pathogen of both humans and animals. Two subspecies have been identified, Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus and Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis, and there are two serotypes, A and B. To further investigate the genetic diversity among C. fetus strains of different origins, subspecies, and serotypes, we performed multiple genetic analyses by utilizing random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and DNA-DNA hybridization. All 10 primers used for the RAPD analyses can distinguish C. fetus strains of reptile and mammal origin, five can differentiate between C. fetus subsp. fetus and C. fetus subsp. venerealis strains, and four showed differences between type A and type B isolates from mammals. PFGE with SmaI and SalI digestion showed varied genome patterns among different C. fetus strains, but for mammalian C. fetus isolates, genome size was well conserved (mean, 1.52 ± 0.06 Mb for SmaI and 1.52 ± 0.05 Mb for SalI). DNA-DNA hybridization demonstrated substantial genomic-homology differences between strains of mammal and reptile origin. In total, these data suggest that C. fetus subsp fetus strains of reptile and mammal origin have genetic divergence more extensive than that between the two subspecies and that between the type A and type B strains. Combining these studies with sequence data, we conclude that there has been substantial genetic divergence between Campylobacter fetus of reptile and mammal origin. Diagnostic tools have been developed to differentiate among C. fetus isolates for taxonomic and epidemiologic uses.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016. Phone: (212) 263-6394. Fax: (212) 263-7700. E-mail: martin.blaser{at}med.nyu.edu.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2005, p. 3334-3340, Vol. 43, No. 7
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.7.3334-3340.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • van Bergen, M. A. P., Dingle, K. E., Maiden, M. C. J., Newell, D. G., van der Graaf-Van Bloois, L., van Putten, J. P. M., Wagenaar, J. A. (2005). Clonal Nature of Campylobacter fetus as Defined by Multilocus Sequence Typing. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 5888-5898 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


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