Development of tools for the genetic manipulation of Campylobacter and their application to the N- glycosylation system of Campylobacter hepaticus, an emerging pathogen of poultry

• Published in: mBio Vol. 15; no. 9; p. e0110124
• Main Authors: McDonald, Jamieson B, Wade, Ben, Andrews, Daniel M, Van, Thi Thu Hao, Moore, Robert J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 11-09-2024
• Subjects: Campylobacter hepaticus; Genetics and Molecular Biology; mutagenesis; N-glycosylation; plasmid; Research Article; shuttle vectors; spotty liver disease; plasmid; spotty liver disease; N-glycosylation; mutagenesis; shuttle vectors; Campylobacter hepaticus
• ISSN: 2150-7511; 2150-7511
• DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01101-24

Various species of campylobacters cause significant disease problems in both humans and animals. The continuing development of tools and methods for genetic and molecular manipulation of campylobacters enables the detailed study of bacterial virulence and disease pathogenesis.
is an emerging pathogen that causes spotty liver disease (SLD) in poultry. SLD has a significant economic and animal welfare impact as the disease results in elevated mortalities and significant decreases in egg production. Although potential virulence genes of
have been identified, they have not been further studied and characterized, as appropriate genetic tools and methods to transform and perform mutagenesis studies in
have not been available. In this study, the genetic manipulation of
is reported, with the development of novel plasmid vectors, methods for transformation, site-specific mutagenesis, and mutant complementation. These tools were used to delete the
gene
an oligosaccharyltransferase, a central enzyme of the
glycosylation pathway, by allelic exchange. In the mutant strain,
-glycosylation was completely abolished. The tools and methods developed in this study represent innovative approaches that can be applied to further explore important virulence factors of
and other closely related
species.
Spotty liver disease (SLD) of layer chickens, caused by infection with
, is a significant economic and animal welfare burden on an important food production industry. Currently, SLD is controlled using antibiotics; however, alternative intervention methods are needed due to increased concerns associated with environmental contamination with antibiotics, and the development of antimicrobial resistance in many bacterial pathogens of humans and animals. This study has developed methods that have enabled the genetic manipulation of
. To validate the methods, the
gene was inactivated by allelic exchange to produce a
strain that could no longer
-glycosylate proteins. Subsequently, the mutation was complemented by reintroduction of the gene in
, on a plasmid vector, to demonstrate that the phenotypic changes noted were caused by the mutation of the targeted gene. The tools developed enable ongoing studies to understand other virulence mechanisms of this important emerging pathogen.