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Infection and Immunity, August 2000, p. 4384-4390, Vol. 68, No. 8
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Involvement of a Plasmid in Virulence of Campylobacter jejuni 81-176

David J. Bacon,1 Richard A. Alm,2 Don H. Burr,3 Lan Hu,4 Dennis J. Kopecko,4 Cheryl P. Ewing,1 Trevor J. Trust,2 and Patricia Guerry1,*

Enteric Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, Maryland 209101; Infection Discovery Astra Zeneca, Cambridge, Massachusetts 021392; Food and Drug Administration, Beltsville, Maryland 207083; and Laboratory of Enteric and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 208924

Received 1 February 2000/Returned for modification 4 April 2000/Accepted 27 April 2000

Campylobacter jejuni strain 81-176 contains two, previously undescribed plasmids, each of which is approximately 35 kb in size. Although one of the plasmids, termed pTet, carries a tetO gene, conjugative transfer of tetracycline resistance to another strain of C. jejuni could not be demonstrated. Partial sequence analysis of the second plasmid, pVir, revealed the presence of four open reading frames which encode proteins with significant sequence similarity to Helicobacter pylori proteins, including one encoded by the cag pathogenicity island. All four of these plasmid-encoded proteins show some level of homology to components of type IV secretion systems. Mutation of one of these plasmid genes, comB3, reduced both adherence to and invasion of INT407 cells to approximately one-third that seen with wild-type strain 81-176. Mutation of comB3 also reduced the natural transformation frequency. A mutation in a second plasmid gene, a virB11 homolog, resulted in a 6-fold reduction in adherence and an 11-fold reduction in invasion compared to the wild type. The isogenic virB11 mutant of strain 81-176 also demonstrated significantly reduced virulence in the ferret diarrheal disease model. The virB11 homolog was detected on plasmids in 6 out of 58 fresh clinical isolates of C. jejuni, suggesting that plasmids are involved in the virulence of a subset of C. jejuni pathogens.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Enteric Disease Department, Naval Medical Research Center, 503 Robert Grant Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910. Phone: (301) 319-7662. Fax: (301) 319-7679. E-mail: guerryp{at}nmrc.navy.mil.

Infection and Immunity, August 2000, p. 4384-4390, Vol. 68, No. 8
0019-9567/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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