Identification of pathogenic genes in Campylobacter jejuni isolated from broiler carcasses and broiler slaughterhouses

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 4588
• Main Authors: Sierra-Arguello, Yuli Melisa, Perdoncini, Gustavo, Rodrigues, Laura Beatriz, Ruschel dos Santos, Luciana, Apellanis Borges, Karen, Quedi Furian, Thales, Pippi Salle, Carlos Tadeu, de Souza Moraes, Hamilton Luiz, Pereira Gomes, Marcos José, Pinheiro do Nascimento, Vladimir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 25-02-2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/326/41/1470; 631/326/41/2531; Abattoirs; Animals; Biomarkers - metabolism; Campylobacter; Campylobacter jejuni; Campylobacter jejuni - genetics; Carcasses; Chickens - microbiology; Cytolethal distending toxin; Epidemiology; FlaA protein; Foodborne diseases; Genes, Bacterial; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Polymerase chain reaction; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Strains (organisms); Toxins; Virulence; Virulence - genetics
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-84149-1

Campylobacter jejuni
is one of the most common causes of foodborne diseases worldwide. There are few reports on
Campylobacter
strains isolated from Latin-American countries. Here, 140
C. jejuni
strains isolated from cloacal and transport boxes swabs, water from chiller tanks, and broiler carcasses of five poultry companies in Southern Brazil were identified using phenotypic and genotypic methods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to analyze eight
C. jejuni
virulence markers:
fla
A,
cad
F, and invasion-associated (
iam
) genes,
cdt
ABC operon (associated with the cytolethal distending toxin), and plasmidial
vir
B11 and
wla
N genes were present in 78.5%, 77.8%, 0%, 74.2%, 22.1%, and 10.7% of samples, respectively. There were 25 different virulence profiles: 1 (
cdt
A
, cdt
B
, cdt
C
, fla
A
,
and
cad
F), 2 (
cdt
A
, cdt
B
, cdt
C
, fla
A
, cad
F
,
and
vir
B11), and 3 (
cdt
A,
cdt
B
, cdt
C
, fla
A,
cad
F
,
and
wla
N) were the most common (> 60% of strains). We provide insight into factors related to the occurrence of this pathogen and their epidemiology.