Institute of Infection and Global Health Institute of Integrative Biology National Centre for Zoonosis Research, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GA, UK.
Environ Microbiol. 2011 Jun;13(6):1549-60. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2011.02461.x. Epub 2011 Mar 21.
Although the major food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni has been isolated from diverse animal, human and environmental sources, our knowledge of genomic diversity in C. jejuni is based exclusively on human or human food-chain-associated isolates. Studies employing multilocus sequence typing have indicated that some clonal complexes are more commonly associated with particular sources. Using comparative genomic hybridization on a collection of 80 isolates representing diverse sources and clonal complexes, we identified a separate clade comprising a group of water/wildlife isolates of C. jejuni with multilocus sequence types uncharacteristic of human food-chain-associated isolates. By genome sequencing one representative of this diverse group (C. jejuni 1336), and a representative of the bank-vole niche specialist ST-3704 (C. jejuni 414), we identified deletions of genomic regions normally carried by human food-chain-associated C. jejuni. Several of the deleted regions included genes implicated in chicken colonization or in virulence. Novel genomic insertions contributing to the accessory genomes of strains 1336 and 414 were identified. Comparative analysis using PCR assays indicated that novel regions were common but not ubiquitous among the water/wildlife group of isolates, indicating further genomic diversity among this group, whereas all ST-3704 isolates carried the same novel accessory regions. While strain 1336 was able to colonize chicks, strain 414 was not, suggesting that regions specifically absent from the genome of strain 414 may play an important role in this common route of Campylobacter infection of humans. We suggest that the genomic divergence observed constitutes evidence of adaptation leading to niche specialization.
虽然主要食源性病原体空肠弯曲菌已经从不同的动物、人类和环境来源中分离出来,但我们对空肠弯曲菌基因组多样性的了解仅基于人类或人类食物链相关的分离株。采用多位点序列分型的研究表明,一些克隆复合体与特定来源更为相关。通过对代表不同来源和克隆复合体的 80 个分离株进行比较基因组杂交,我们确定了一个单独的进化枝,该进化枝包含一组空肠弯曲菌的水/野生动物分离株,其多位点序列类型与人类食物链相关分离株不同。通过对该多样化组的一个代表(空肠弯曲菌 1336)和一个银行田鼠小生境专业型 ST-3704 的代表(空肠弯曲菌 414)进行基因组测序,我们发现了人类食物链相关空肠弯曲菌通常携带的基因组区域缺失。几个缺失的区域包括与鸡定植或毒力相关的基因。鉴定出导致菌株 1336 和 414 辅助基因组的新基因组插入。使用 PCR 检测的比较分析表明,新区域在水/野生动物组的分离株中常见但并非普遍存在,这表明该组具有进一步的基因组多样性,而所有 ST-3704 分离株都携带相同的新辅助区域。虽然菌株 1336 能够定植小鸡,但菌株 414 不能,这表明菌株 414 基因组中特有的缺失区域可能在人类常见的弯曲菌感染途径中发挥重要作用。我们认为,观察到的基因组分化构成了适应导致小生境专业化的证据。