The public health significance of campylobacters lies in their role as enteropathogens of man. Zoonotic in origin, they are the most commonly reported bacterial cause of gastrointestinal infection in the developed world. Approximately 46,000 laboratory-confirmed cases are reported annually in England and Wales, and this figure underestimates community disease by a factor of eight. Infection is unpleasant and, whilst self-limiting, a tenth of cases require hospital admission for their illness. Sequelae such Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Reactive Arthritis and Guillain-Barré Syndrome compound the problem. Despite the significant public health burden posed by campylobacters, our understanding of the epidemiology of Campylobacter infection is limited. This deficiency relates to a combination of the natural history of the microorganism, the high disease incidence which exists and the epidemiological tools applied thus far to its study. In order to gain a better understanding of the epidemiology of Campylobacter infection the Campylobacter Sentinel Surveillance Scheme was conceived in 1998 and established in 1999. Through the integration of standardised epidemiological and microbiological data, it aimed to generate systematically new hypotheses for potential vehicles of infections, or transmission pathways, for campylobacteriosis. Twenty-two health authorities, representing all NHS regions at that time in England and in Wales and with a population of over 12 million people, participated in the study, which ran from May 2000 until April 2003. Standardised epidemiological data were captured on over 20,000 cases over the surveillance period and these were combined with microbiological data from detailed strain characterisation of patients‟ strains, referred at the same time. Case-case comparisons and disease determinant analysis were the epidemiological tools most commonly applied to the data. The research carried out by the candidate demonstrated that age, gender, ethnicity, occupation and socioeconomic status are major determinants for Campylobacter infection in England and Wales, and that variation in behaviour throughout the week also has a bearing on risk. It has shown that campylobacteriosis cannot be considered a single disease, as exposure differences exist in cases infected with different Campylobacter species or subspecies, and these differences can be confounded by foreign travel status. The fact that disease incidence amongst foreign travellers is country-specific suggests that the above exposure differences will be confounded further by travel destination. It has shown that outbreaks of campylobacteriosis occur more commonly than described previously, suggesting that an opportunity for furthering our understanding of infection is being missed. Finally, the dose-response relationship for Campylobacter infection has been investigated, highlighting potential implications for the design of future epidemiological studies. Policy makers should be aware that future case-control studies of Campylobacter infection will need to be larger or more complex, and hence more costly. Such costs should be weighed against the opportunity for a more accurate assessment of disease risk, leading to improved evidence-based policy development. Researchers should focus on assessing rapidly and by non-invasive means, previous exposure to campylobacters amongst healthy controls, improving further the accuracy of case-control studies, which remain the epidemiological method of choice for studying this disease. This study has demonstrated that the systematic collection of standardised epidemiological information on all cases of Campylobacter infection, reported from large, well defined populations over a prolonged period, coupled with detailed strain characterisation, can lead to public health gains.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology / David G. Renter / Salmonella and Campylobacter are two leading causes of human foodborne disease. Cattle can asymptomatically shed these organisms in their feces. Fluoroquinolones are antimicrobials used to treat both humans and animals. With concerns over antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial use in livestock has become scrutinized. Data on prevalence and susceptibility of Salmonella and Campylobacter in feedlot cattle, particularly those exposed to fluoroquinolones, are sparse. The purpose of the research described in this dissertation was to determine the prevalence and quinolone susceptibility of Salmonella and Campylobacter isolated from feedlot cattle and to determine whether these outcomes were associated with fluoroquinolone use. First, an observational study was performed at five commercial feedlots that used enrofloxacin (a fluoroquinolone) as first-line treatment for bovine respiratory disease (BRD). Fecal samples were collected from cattle pens with various levels of BRD and exposure to enrofloxacin. Salmonella and Campylobacter prevalence and susceptibility to quinolones, nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, were evaluated. Prevalence of Salmonella and Campylobacter was highly variable among and within feedlots. All but one Salmonella isolate was susceptible to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, whereas 49% (126/256) of the Campylobacter isolates were resistant to both antimicrobials. However, the number of enrofloxacin treatments was not associated with the prevalence or susceptibilities of either organism. A second, experimental study assessed prevalence and quinolone susceptibilities of Salmonella and Campylobacter in feces of feedlot cattle administered enrofloxacin for the control of BRD (metaphylaxis). Cattle with no history of fluoroquinolone exposure were randomly assigned to either an enrofloxacin treated pen or a non-treated, control pen. Cattle feces were repeatedly collected and cultured for Salmonella and Campylobacter, with isolates tested for susceptibilities to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin. Overall, Salmonella and Campylobacter prevalence estimates were relatively low and decreased over time. Resistance prevalence was negligible for Salmonella, but was high for Campylobacter. However, there was no evidence that enrofloxacin metaphylaxis impacted the prevalence of Salmonella or Campylobacter, nor did it significantly affect their susceptibility to human quinolones. In conclusion, enrofloxacin use in feedlot cattle does not appear to have a significant impact on the prevalence or resistance of Salmonella and Campylobacter.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Master of Science / Food Science / Randall K. Phebus / Campylobacter is recognized as a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. In the United States, Campylobacter causes an estimated 600,000 illnesses and 55 deaths each year at a cost of over $1.3 billion. It is estimated that 80 percent of Campylobacter infections are foodborne with almost 50 percent of these cases attributed to poultry. Based on these statistics, Campylobacter and poultry is considered by some to be the riskiest pathogen-food combination. Campylobacter illness is usually self-limiting but serious illness and complications can occur. Serious illness requires treatment with antibiotics, but with emerging antibiotic resistance observed in Campylobacter isolates, treatment options might be limited. Therefore, it is of importance to reduce significantly the consumer’s exposure to Campylobacter through poultry consumption. In July 2011, USDA FSIS’s new performance standard for Campylobacter in chicken and turkey slaughter establishments went into effect. For chicken, the standard allows no more than eight Campylobacter-positive samples out of a fifty-one sample set. Methods for Campylobacter detection and enumeration include direct plating using a medium such as Campy-Cefex, MPN techniques, ELISA, and PCR. To meet the new performance standard the industry will need to consider improvements in poultry production. Improvements likely will not be limited to processing interventions such as scalding, picking, evisceration, and chilling. Improvements may include on-farm interventions such as enhanced biosecurity, use of competitive exclusion or vaccinations, good hygiene practices, and improved staging at introduction to processing. Post-processing interventions that might be considered include freezing or further processing (i.e. cooking) of poultry products from Campylobacter-positive flocks. Significant improvements in establishments’ food safety programs are expected to occur to meet the standard and are predicted to result in an estimated reduction of 5,000 Campylobacter illnesses per year.

The transcriptome is defined as the set of all RNA molecules transcribed in a cell. These include protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs) as well as non-coding RNAs, such as ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs). sRNAs are known to play an important role in regulating gene expression and virulence in pathogens. In this thesis, the transcriptome of the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni was characterized at single nucleotide resolution by use of next-generation sequencing approaches. The first genome of a C. jejuni strain was published in the year 2000. However, its transcriptome remained uncharacterized at large. C. jejuni can survive in a variety of ecological niches and hosts. However, how strain-specific transcriptional changes contribute to such adaptation is not known. In this study, the global transcriptome maps of four closely related C. jejuni strains were defined using a differential RNA-seq (dRNA-seq) approach. This analysis also included a novel automated method to annotate the transcriptional start sites (TSS) at a genome-wide scale. Next, the transcriptomes of four strains were simultaneously mapped and compared by the use of a common coordinate system derived from whole-genome alignment, termed as SuperGenome. This approach helped to refine the promoter maps by comparison of TSS within strains. Most of the TSS were found to be conserved among all four strains, but some single-nucleotide-polymorphisms (SNPs) around promoter regions led to strain-specific transcriptional output. Most of these SNPs altered transcription only slightly, but some others led to a complete abrogation of transcription leading to differential molecular phenotypes. These in turn might help the strains to adapt to their specific host or microniche. The transcriptome also unveiled a plethora of sRNAs, some of which were conserved among the four strains while others were strain specific. Furthermore, a Cas9-dependent minimal type-II CRISPR-Cas system with only three Cas genes and multiple promoters to drive the transcription of the CRISPR locus was also characterized in C. jejuni using the dRNA-seq dataset. Apart from sRNAs, the role of global RNA binding proteins (RBPs) is also unclear in C. jejuni. Aided by the global transcriptome data, the role of RBPs in post-transcriptional regulation of C. jejuni was studied at a global scale. Two of the most widely studied RNA binding proteins in bacteria are Hfq and CsrA. The RNA interactome of the translational regulator CsrA was defined using another global deep-sequencing technique that combines co-immunoprecipitation (coIP) with RNA sequencing (RIP-seq). Using this interactome dataset, the direct targets of this widespread global post-transcriptional regulator were defined, revealing a significant enrichment for mRNAs encoding genes involved in flagella biosynthesis. Unlike Gammaproteobacteria, where sRNAs such as CsrB/C, antagonize CsrA activity, no sRNAs were enriched in the CsrA-coIP in C. jejuni, indicating absence of any sRNA antagonists and novel modes of CsrA activity regulation. Instead, the CsrA regulatory pathway revealed flaA mRNA, encoding the major flagellin, as a dual-function mRNA. flaA mRNA was the main target of CsrA but it also served to antagonize CsrA activity along with the protein antagonist FliW previously identified in the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Furthermore, this regulatory mRNA was also shown in this thesis to localize to the poles of elongating C. jejuni cells in a translation-dependent manner. It was also shown that this localization is dependent on the CsrA-FliW regulon, which controls the translation of flaA mRNA. The role and mechanism of flaA mRNA localization or mRNA localization in general is not yet clear in bacteria when compared to their eukaryotic counterparts. Overall, this study provides first insights into riboregulation of the bacterial pathogen C. jejuni. The work presented in this thesis unveils several novel modes of riboregulation in C. jejuni, which could be applicable more generally. Moreover, this study also lays out several unsolved intriguing questions, which may pave the way for interesting studies to come. / Das Transkriptom ist definiert als die Summe aller RNA-Moleküle, die in einer Zelle transkribiert werden. Hierzu gehören sowohl protein-kodierende Boten-RNAs (mRNAs für „messenger RNAs“), als auch nicht-kodierende RNAs, wie ribosomale RNAs (rRNAs), transfer RNAs (tRNAs) und kleine nicht-kodierende RNAs (sRNAs für „small RNAs“). Diese sRNAs spielen eine wichtige Rolle in der Regulierung von Genexpression und Virulenz von Pathogenen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde das Transkriptom des Lebensmittelkeims Campylobacter jejuni mit Hilfe von Next-Generation-Sequencing-Methoden charakterisiert, welche eine Auflösung des Transkriptoms auf Einzelnukleotid-Ebene ermöglichen. Obwohl eine erste Genomsequenz für C. jejuni bereits im Jahr 2000 veröffentlicht wurde, war das Transkriptom bisher größtenteils uncharakterisiert. C. jejuni besitzt die Fähigkeit in vielen ökologischen Nischen und Wirten überleben zu können. Es ist jedoch bislang unbekannt, wie stammspezifische Veränderungen des Transkriptoms zu dieser Adaption beitragen. Mittels eines differenziellen RNA-Sequenzierungsansatzes wurden in dieser Arbeit globale Transkriptomkarten von vier nahverwandten C. jejuni Stämmen erstellt. Diese Analyse beinhaltet auch eine neue automatisierte Methode zur genomweiten Identifizierung von Transkriptionsstartstellen (TSS). Anschließend wurde aus den Genomsequenzen der vier Campylobacter Stämme ein SuperGenom erstellt. Dieses wiederum diente als Referenz, anhand dessen die Transkriptome kartiert und miteinander verglichen werden konnten. Dieser Ansatz ermöglichte eine verfeinerte Kartierung der Promotoren mittels des Vergleichs verschiedener Stämme. Die meisten TSS waren innerhalb der vier Stämme konserviert. Allerdings kam es durch SNPs („single-nucleotide polymorphisms“) in den Promoterregionen zu stammspezifischem Transkriptoutput. Die meisten dieser SNPs hatten nur geringe Veränderungen der Transkription zur Folge. Manche jedoch führten zu einem kompletten Verlust der Transkription und damit zu verschiedenen molekularen Phänotypen. Diese wiederum könnten es den verschiedenen Stämmen ermöglichen, sich an ihre spezifische Wirts- oder Mikronische anzupassen. Das Transkriptom wies auch eine Fülle von sRNAs auf, von denen manche in allen vier Stämmen konserviert, andere jedoch stammspezifisch waren. Zudem wurde mittels des C. jejuni-dRNA-seq-Datensatzes ein minimales Cas9-abhängiges CRISPR-Cas-System des Typs II entdeckt. Dieses beinhaltet lediglich drei Cas-Gene, jedoch mehrere Promotoren, die die Expression des CRISPR-Lokus antreiben. Neben der Funktion von sRNAs ist auch die Rolle globaler RNA-Bindeproteine (RBPs) in C. jejuni weitestgehend unklar. Mithilfe der Transkriptomdaten wurde die Rolle von RBPs in der posttranskriptionellen Regulierung in C. jejuni untersucht. Zwei der am besten untersuchten RNA-Bindeproteine in Bakterien sind Hfq und CsrA. Das RNA-Interaktom des Translationsregulators CsrA wurde mittels eines weiteren globalen Deep-Squencing-Ansatzes definiert. Bei dieser Methode werden Coimmunopräzipitation (coIP) und RNA-Sequenzierung zum so genannten RIP-seq kombiniert. Mithilfe dieses Interaktionsdatensatzes wurden die Zielgene dieses weitverbreiteten, globalen posttranskriptionellen Regulators definiert. Hierbei wurde eine signifikante Anreicherung von mRNAs, die in die Biosynthese von Flagellen involviert sind, erkennbar. Anders als in Gammaproteobakterien, in denen sRNAs wie CsrB und CsrC die CsrA-Aktivität antagonisieren, wurden in C. jejuni keine sRNAs in der CsrA-CoIP angereichert. Dies deutet auf das Fehlen jeglicher sRNA-Antagonisten, und damit auf eine neue Art der CsrA-Aktivitätskontrolle hin. Anstelle der sRNAs wurde die flaA mRNA, welche für das Hauptflagellin kodiert, als mRNA mit dualer Funktion identifiziert. Sie ist zum einen das Hauptzielgen von CsrA, fungiert aber gleichzeitig, zusammen mit dem Protein FliW, als Antagonist von CsrA. FliW wurde bereits zuvor in dem Grampositiven Bakterium Bacillus subtilis identifiziert. In dieser Arbeit konnte zudem gezeigt werden, dass die regulatorische flaA mRNA translationsabhängig an den Polen der wachsenden C. jejuni-Zellen lokalisiert ist. Außerdem war zu erkennen, dass diese Lokalisierung abhängig von dem CsrA-FliW-Regulon stattfindet, welches die Translation der flaA-mRNA kontrolliert. Im Gegensatz zu Eukaryoten ist die Rolle, die die Lokalisation der flaA-mRNA, oder bakterieller mRNA im Allgemeinen, spielt, sowie der Mechanismus, der zu dieser Lokalisierung führt, bisher noch unklar. Zusammenfassend ermöglicht diese Arbeit einen ersten Einblick in die Riboregulierung des bakteriellen Pathogens C. jejuni. Es konnten einige neue Mechanismen dieser Art der Regulierung aufgedeckt werden, welche auch allgemeine Gültigkeit finden könnten. Zudem werden in dieser Arbeit neue, faszinierende Fragen aufgeworfen, die den Weg für weitere interessante Studien bereiten.

A direct enrichment procedure has been developed for selectively recovering low numbers of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli from oyster tissue. This procedure makes use of a selective enrichment step, using a broth medium composed of 2% proteose peptone, 1% yeast extract, 0.2% potassium L-aspartate, 0.25% sodium chloride as basal medium (PYA broth)plus 0.2% bacteriological charcoal, polymyxin (5000 IU/ litre), cefoperazone(30 mg/litre), trimethoprim (10 mg/litre), cycloheximide (50 mg/litre), sodium pyruvate (0.25g/litre), sodium metabisulphate (0.25g/litre) and ferrous sulphate (0.25g/litre). In this study the procedure has been used to study the occurrence of thermophilic campylobacters in Sydney rock oysters. Seventy nine samples were screened during the winter months of April to July in 1985. Approximately 8% of the samples contained C.jejuni and 6% of the samples were positive for C.coli. The survival of C.jejuni and C.coli in the Sydney rock oyster was also investigated and results discussed. In contaminated shell stock stored at 20 and 30 degrees Centigrade, C.jejuni and C.coli survived for periods varying from 2 to 9 days. The failure of the organism to multiply in oyster tissue at any of these temperatures studied is an important phenomenon. / Master of Science (Hons)

Thermophilic Campylobacter species such as Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are recognised worldwide as major causes of acute gastroenteritis in humans. Campylobacteriosis is frequently a mild to moderate self-limited illness and most cases do not require antimicrobial therapy; antimicrobial therapy is necessary for patients with systemic Campylobacter infections, for patients with severe disease, or for immunosuppressed patients. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Campylobacter species using disk diffusion currently is not standardised by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS), however, in order to monitor the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in Campylobacter species, there is a need for standardised or calibrated methods of susceptibility testing. Initially, 90 human clinical isolates of thermophilic Campylobacter species from Southeast Queensland, Australia, were screened for resistance to ampicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline using the disk diffusion susceptibility testing method. Levels of resistance were then determined using E test MIC and agar dilution methods to determine the reliability of disk diffusion results. Results of the disk diffusion testing showed 87 (97%) isolates resistant to ampicillin, 14 (16%) isolates were resistant to tetracycline and three (3.4%) isolates were resistant to erythromycin. Results of disk diffusion testing showed 100% correlation (+1 log2 dilution) with agar dilution for erythromycin and tetracycline, and 77% for ampicillin. E test showed 68% correlation with agar dilution for ampicillin, 100% for erythromycin and 64% for tetracycline. These data suggest that disk diffusion susceptibility testing may be used to screen thermophilic Campylobacter spp. for putative resistance to erythromycin and tetracycline and that the incidence of resistance of Campylobacter spp. to erythromycin and tetracycline is low in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Agar dilution remains the most accurate method for determination of ampicillin susceptibility. Numerical analyses of restriction endonuclease (RE) fragment profiles were performed to elucidate relatedness of the antibiotic resistant isolates and the results suggested a high level of isolate variation. The role of the B-lactamase in the resistance of C. jejuni to various B-lactams has been well documented and B-lactamase production in C. jejuni has been reported in 83-93% of strains. The expression and characterisation of the Campylobacter B-lactamase, however, has not been described. In this work, standard cloning techniques utilising a high-copy number E. coli cloning vector and a previously described E. coli-Campylobacter shuttle cloning vector were unsuccessful in isolation and expression of the C. jejuni B-lactamase gene in E. coli, possibly due to a lack of expression of the campylobacter gene in its host or low efficiency of transformation. Therefore, in order to facilitate the isolation, expression and characterisation of the C. jejuni B-lactamase gene, it was necessary to construct a new E.coli-Campylobacter shuttle cloning vector for the purposes of expressing the C. jejuni B-lactamase in Campylobacter. To aid in the construction of the vector, the sequence and genetic organisation of a 4.0-kb cryptic plasmid, termed pCJ419, identified in a human clinical isolate of C. jejuni was determined. Plasmid pCJ419 is a circular molecule of 4013 bp and contains four open reading frames (ORFs), the products of which share significant sequence similarity with putative proteins from known C. jejuni and C. coli plasmids. ORF-1 encodes a putative mobilisation protein (Mob); ORF-2 and ORF-3 encode proteins which have high identity to putative RepA and RepB proteins, respectively, of known C. jejuni and C. coli plasmids. ORF-4 encodes a protein which has high identity to a hypothetical protein of unknown function, Cjp32, previously described in a pVir plasmid of C. jejuni. Tandem repeating sequences typical of a plasmid replication origin (ori) were identified upstream of the DNA sequences encoding putative replication initiation proteins RepA and RepB. An E. coli-Campylobacter shuttle cloning vector, pGU0202, was constructed using plasmid pMW2 which harbours a Campylobacter-derived kanamycin-resistance gene, aphA(3’)-III. The sequences encoding pCJ419 mob, repA and repB were inserted upstream of aphA(3’)-III resulting in a stable construct of 6174 bp that was used successfully to transform both E. coli and Campylobacter. Subsequently, a novel molecular class D ?-lactamase gene, blaOXA-61, from a B-lactamase-positive, ampicillin-resistant (MIC 64 mg l-1), clinical strain of Campylobacter jejuni, strain GC015 was isolated, cloned and characterized using the newly constructed shuttle vector pGU0202. An open reading frame of 774 bp was identified on a ClaI genomic fragment of 2.2 kb and encodes a protein of 257 amino acids. Conserved motifs composed of identical amino acids typical of penicillin-recognising proteins and specific class D motifs were identified. blaOXA-61 was cloned into the shuttle cloning vector pGU0202 and expressed in B-lactamase-negative, ampicillin-susceptible C. jejuni and E. coli. A conserved 122-bp sequence directly upstream of blaOXA-61 was identified and shown to be required in cis for high-level resistance of Campylobacter to the penicillins although blaOXA-61 expressed only at low levels in E.coli. Southern hybridisation analysis demonstrated that the bla gene was chromosomally encoded and present on the same BglII and ClaI-digested genomic DNA fragments from various strains of Campylobacter with ampicillin MICs of between 4 and 64 mg l-1. In addition, DNA fragments encoding two putative zinc-dependent hydrolases from the metallo-B-lactamase superfamily, designated GLX2-1 and GLX2-2, were identified in a clinical isolate of Campylobacter jejuni, strain 012, cloned and sequenced. A strictly conserved motif, -H-X-H-X-D-, characteristic of the metallo- B-lactamase superfamily of proteins, including the class B metallo- B-lactamases, was identified in both proteins although functional B-lactamase could not be expressed in either E. coli or C. coli transformed using the C. jejuni hydrolase-containing shuttle vector pGU0202. Further work is warranted to determine the exact function of these proteins.

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the leading bacterial causes of human gastroenteritis world wide and has been linked to several severe complications including autoimmune syndromes which can result in paralysis. Despite being the subject of much study, C. jejuni remains a major public health burden in both developing and developed nations. There is currently no vaccine available for protection against this pathogen and the mechanisms important for C. jejuni pathogenesis are not fully defined. This study has employed a range of experimental approaches to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in C. jejuni pathogenesis. Lipooligosaccharides (LOSs) are surface structures and known virulence factors of C. jejuni which are involved in serum resistance, resistance to phagocytic killing, endotoxicity and adhesion. Mutagenesis studies targeting the putative LOS biosynthesis genes wlaRF, wlaTA, wlaTB, wlaTC and waaV were performed in order to characterise the proteins encoded by each of these six genes and assess their potential role in C. jejuni pathogenesis in vitro. The gene product of wlaTA was found to be essential for C. jejuni survival and therefore a knock out mutant could not be generated. Phenotypic characterisation of four knock-out mutants confirmed that each gene contributed to the construction of the LOS molecule as all four mutants produced a truncated LOS moiety and altered their immunoreactivity. Further analysis determined that the production of complete LOSs was important for C. jejuni to invade and adhere to both human and chicken cells in vitro. This study identified a link between the inactivation of two LOS biosynthesis genes and the loss of motility, another important virulence factor. A major source of human C. jejuni infection is contact with contaminated poultry. However, C. jejuni exists as a commensal in chickens. It is currently not known why C. jejuni is pathogenic to humans and not to chickens and the differences between these two hosts represent pathogenic and non-pathogenic environments respectively. These environmental differences were exploited in this study. The four conditions investigated were temperature, blood, bile and host cells in vitro. Five different C. jejuni strains (NCTC11168, 81116, HB93-13, a recent human enteritis isolate and a recent chicken isolate) were subjected to modelled

Campylobacter jejuni is an avian commensal bacterium and causes gastrointestinal diarrhea in humans called campylobacteriosis. Campylobacteriosis is acquired by consumption of undercooked poultry contamined with C. jejuni. Poultry can become colonized from contaminated drinking water. The chicken flock and drinking water of 4 poultry farms in Ontario were sampled and the prevalence of C. jejuni in these flocks was determined to be 16.7% over a 1 year sampling period. We determined that contamined- water was a significant risk factor for Campylobacter-positive flocks from flaA typing, PFGE analysis, and genomotyping several isolated strains. Free living amoebae, such as Acanthamoeba species, live in the drinking water of poultry farms. It is hypothesized that Acanthamoeba in the drinking water of poultry farms can take up and act as environmental reservoirs of C. jejuni. Acanthamoeba species were isolated from the drinking water. Acanthamoeba strains were found to act as a vehicle for protection, persistence and growth of C. jejuni isolated from the farm water. The transcriptome of both C. jejuni and A. castellanii during the initial stages of C. jejuni internalization were described by RNA-seq. C. jejuni oxidative defence genes (such as katA, sodB, fdxA) and some other unknown genes (Cj0170, Cj1325, Cj1725) were found to be essential in the interaction with A. castellanii. Our findings suggest that Acanthamoebae act as a C. jejuni reservoir and could be a contributing source of C. jejuni in the environment. Through transcriptomics studies, we have begun to uncover some genetic clues involved in this interaction.

Campylobacter jejuni is an avian commensal bacterium and causes gastrointestinal diarrhea in humans called campylobacteriosis. Campylobacteriosis is acquired by consumption of undercooked poultry contamined with C. jejuni. Poultry can become colonized from contaminated drinking water. The chicken flock and drinking water of 4 poultry farms in Ontario were sampled and the prevalence of C. jejuni in these flocks was determined to be 16.7% over a 1 year sampling period. We determined that contamined- water was a significant risk factor for Campylobacter-positive flocks from flaA typing, PFGE analysis, and genomotyping several isolated strains. Free living amoebae, such as Acanthamoeba species, live in the drinking water of poultry farms. It is hypothesized that Acanthamoeba in the drinking water of poultry farms can take up and act as environmental reservoirs of C. jejuni. Acanthamoeba species were isolated from the drinking water. Acanthamoeba strains were found to act as a vehicle for protection, persistence and growth of C. jejuni isolated from the farm water. The transcriptome of both C. jejuni and A. castellanii during the initial stages of C. jejuni internalization were described by RNA-seq. C. jejuni oxidative defence genes (such as katA, sodB, fdxA) and some other unknown genes (Cj0170, Cj1325, Cj1725) were found to be essential in the interaction with A. castellanii. Our findings suggest that Acanthamoebae act as a C. jejuni reservoir and could be a contributing source of C. jejuni in the environment. Through transcriptomics studies, we have begun to uncover some genetic clues involved in this interaction.