This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, R.-A.
Right arrow Articles by Humphrey, T.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, R.-A.
Right arrow Articles by Humphrey, T.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Hughes, R.-A.
Right arrow Articles by Humphrey, T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2009, p. 6292-6298, Vol. 75, No. 19
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00993-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Response of Campylobacter jejuni to Low Temperature Differs from That of Escherichia coli{triangledown}

Rebecca-Ayme Hughes,1* Kathy Hallett,2 Tristan Cogan,1 Mike Enser,2 and Tom Humphrey1

Division of Veterinary Pathology, Infection and Immunity, School of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol,1 Division of Farm Animal Science, School of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, Bristol BS40 5DU, United Kingdom2

Received 30 April 2009/ Accepted 23 July 2009

Human infection with Campylobacter jejuni is often associated with the consumption of foods that have been exposed to both chilling and high temperatures. Despite the public health importance of this pathogen, little is known about the effects of cold exposure on its ability to survive a subsequent heat challenge. This work examined the effect of rapid exposure to chilling, as would occur in poultry processing, on the heat resistance at 56°C of two C. jejuni strains, 11168 and 2097e48, and of Escherichia coli K-12. Unlike E. coli K-12, whose cold-exposed cells showed increased sensitivity to 56°C, such exposure had only a marginal effect on subsequent heat resistance in C. jejuni. This may be explained by the finding that during rapid chilling, unlike E. coli cells, C. jejuni cells are unable to alter their fatty acid composition and do not adapt to cold exposure. However, their unaltered fatty acid composition is more suited to survival when cells are exposed to high temperatures. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that in C. jejuni, the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids was not significantly different after cold exposure, but it was in E. coli. The low-temperature response of C. jejuni is very different from that of other food-borne pathogens, and this may contribute to its tolerance to further heat stresses.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Veterinary Pathology, Infection and Immunity, School of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Langford, Bristol BS40 5DU, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 117 331 9128. Fax: 44 117 928 9505. E-mail: Rebecca.Hughes{at}bristol.ac.uk

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 31 July 2009.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2009, p. 6292-6298, Vol. 75, No. 19
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00993-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»