Distribution of genes related to Type 6 secretion system and lipooligosaccharide that induced ganglioside mimicry among Campylobacter jejuni isolated from human diarrhea in Thailand

Oralak Serichantalergs; Patcharawalai Wassanarungroj; Nuanpan Khemnu; Frédéric Poly; Patricia Guerry; Ladaporn Bodhidatta; John Crawford; Brett Swierczewski

doi:10.1186/s13099-020-00357-6

Distribution of genes related to Type 6 secretion system and lipooligosaccharide that induced ganglioside mimicry among Campylobacter jejuni isolated from human diarrhea in Thailand

Gut Pathog. 2020 Apr 9:12:18. doi: 10.1186/s13099-020-00357-6. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Oralak Serichantalergs¹, Patcharawalai Wassanarungroj¹, Nuanpan Khemnu¹, Frédéric Poly², Patricia Guerry², Ladaporn Bodhidatta¹, John Crawford³, Brett Swierczewski⁴

Affiliations

¹ 1Department of Bacterial and Parasitic Diseases, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences (AFRIMS), Bangkok, Thailand.
² 2Enteric Diseases Department, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD USA.
³ 3US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense, Aberdeen, MD USA.
⁴ 4Bacterial Diseases Branch, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD USA.

Abstract

Background: Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is one of the most common bacteria responsible for human gastroenteritis worldwide. The mode of human transmission is foodborne infections due to consumption of contaminated food, especially poultry. Type 6 secretion systems (T6SS) were described recently as Campylobacter virulence mechanisms. Furthermore, infection sequelae associated with neurological disorders like Guillain-Barré (GBS) and Miller Fisher (MF) syndromes can become serious health problems in some patients after Campylobacter gastroenteritis. Our objective was to determine the distribution of these virulence genes among C. jejuni isolated from stool of human diarrhea.

Methods: A total of 524 C. jejuni strains from travelers and pediatric cases of acute diarrhea in Thailand were selected for this study. All isolates belonged to one of 20 known capsule types and all were assayed by PCR for T6SS, a hemolysin co-regulated protein (hcp) gene, and GBS-associated genes (cgtA, cgtB, cstII _HS19 and cstII _HS2 ) which are involved in sialic acid production in the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) cores of C. jejuni. The distribution of these genes are summarized and discussed.

Results: Of all isolates with these 20 capsule types identified, 328 (62.6%) were positive for hcp, ranging from 29.2 to 100% among 10 capsule types. The GBS-associated LOS genes were detected among 14 capsule type isolates with 24.4% and 23.3% of C. jejuni isolates possessed either cstII _HS19 or all three genes (cgtA, cgtB and cstII _HS19 ), which were classified as LOS classes A and B whereas 9.2% of C. jejuni isolates possessing cstII _HS2 were classified as LOS class C. The C. jejuni isolates of LOS A, B, and C together accounted for 56.9% of the isolates among 14 different capsule types while 31.1% of all C. jejuni isolates did not possess any GBS-associated genes. No significant difference was detected from C. jejuni isolates possessing GBS-associated LOS genes among travelers and children, but changes between those with hcp were significant (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Our results suggested a high diversity of hcp and GBS-associated LOS genes among capsule types of C. jejuni isolated from Thailand.

Keywords: Campylobacter jejuni; Capsule types; GBS; Human diarrhea; LOS; T6SS; hcp.