This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental material Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Grant, A. J. Articles by Maskell, D. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Grant, A. J. Articles by Maskell, D. J. Agricola Articles by Grant, A. J. Articles by Maskell, D. J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 8031-8041, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.8031-8041.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Signature-Tagged Transposon Mutagenesis Studies Demonstrate the Dynamic Nature of Cecal Colonization of 2-Week-Old Chickens by Campylobacter jejuni

Andrew J. Grant,^1,* Christopher Coward,^1, Michael A. Jones,² Claire A. Woodall,¹ Paul A. Barrow,² and Duncan J. Maskell¹

Centre for Veterinary Science, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ES, United Kingdom,¹ Institute for Animal Health, Compton, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 7NN, United Kingdom²

Received 22 March 2005/ Accepted 1 September 2005

We have constructed plasmids to be used for in vitro signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) of Campylobacter jejuni and used these to generate STM libraries in three different strains. Statistical analysis of the transposon insertion sites in the C. jejuni NCTC 11168 chromosome and the plasmids of strain 81-176 indicated that their distribution was not uniform. Visual inspection of the distribution suggested that deviation from uniformity was not due to preferential integration of the transposon into a limited number of hot spots but rather that there was a bias towards insertions around the origin. We screened pools of mutants from the STM libraries for their ability to colonize the ceca of 2-week-old chickens harboring a standardized gut flora. We observed high-frequency random loss of colonization proficient mutants. When cohoused birds were individually inoculated with different tagged mutants, random loss of colonization-proficient mutants was similarly observed, as was extensive bird-to-bird transmission of mutants. This indicates that the nature of campylobacter colonization in chickens is complex and dynamic, and we hypothesize that bottlenecks in the colonization process and between-bird transmission account for these observations.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

These authors contributed equally to this work.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Coward, C., van Diemen, P. M., Conlan, A. J. K., Gog, J. R., Stevens, M. P., Jones, M. A., Maskell, D. J. (2008). Competing Isogenic Campylobacter Strains Exhibit Variable Population Structures In Vivo. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 3857-3867 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Naikare, H., Palyada, K., Panciera, R., Marlow, D., Stintzi, A. (2006). Major Role for FeoB in Campylobacter jejuni Ferrous Iron Acquisition, Gut Colonization, and Intracellular Survival.. Infect. Immun. 74: 5433-5444 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kakuda, T., DiRita, V. J. (2006). Cj1496c Encodes a Campylobacter jejuni Glycoprotein That Influences Invasion of Human Epithelial Cells and Colonization of the Chick Gastrointestinal Tract.. Infect. Immun. 74: 4715-4723 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Coward, C., Grant, A. J., Swift, C., Philp, J., Towler, R., Heydarian, M., Frost, J. A., Maskell, D. J. (2006). Phase-Variable Surface Structures Are Required for Infection of Campylobacter jejuni by Bacteriophages.. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 4638-4647 [Abstract] [Full Text]