Campylobacter jejuni isolated from poultry meat in Brazil: in silico analysis and genomic features of two strains with different phenotypes of antimicrobial susceptibility

• Published in: Molecular biology reports 2020, Vol.47 (1), p.671-681
• Main Authors: de Fátima Rauber Würfel, Simone, Jorge, Sérgio, de Oliveira, Natasha Rodrigues, Kremer, Frederico Schmitt, Sanchez, Christian Domingues, Campos, Vinícius Farias, da Silva Pinto, Luciano, da Silva, Wladimir Padilha, Dellagostin, Odir Antônio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Anatomy; Animal Biochemistry; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antimicrobial agents; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Brazil; Campylobacter; Campylobacter jejuni; Campylobacter jejuni - drug effects; Campylobacter jejuni - genetics; Campylobacter jejuni - isolation & purification; Campylobacter jejuni - pathogenicity; Diarrhea; Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial - genetics; Genome, Bacterial - genetics; Genomes; Genomic analysis; Genomic islands; Genomics; Histology; Insertion sequences; Life Sciences; Meat; Meat - microbiology; Morphology; Multidrug resistance; Multilocus Sequence Typing; Original Article; Phenotypes; Plasmids - genetics; Poultry; Public health; Quinolones; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Tetracyclines; Virulence factors; Virulence Factors - genetics; β-Lactam antibiotics
• ISSN: 0301-4851; 1573-4978
• DOI: 10.1007/s11033-019-05174-y

Campylobacter jejuni is the most common bacterial cause of foodborne diarrheal disease worldwide and is among the antimicrobial resistant “priority pathogens” that pose greatest threat to public health. The genomes of two C. jejuni isolated from poultry meat sold on the retail market in Southern Brazil phenotypically characterized as multidrug-resistant (CJ100) and susceptible (CJ104) were sequenced and analyzed by bioinformatic tools. The isolates CJ100 and CJ104 showed distinct multilocus sequence types (MLST). Comparative genomic analysis revealed a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms, rearrangements, and inversions in both genomes, in addition to virulence factors, genomic islands, prophage sequences, and insertion sequences. A circular 103-kilobase megaplasmid carrying virulence factors was identified in the genome of CJ100, in addition to resistance mechanisms to aminoglycosides, beta-lactams, macrolides, quinolones, and tetracyclines. The molecular characterization of distinct phenotypes of foodborne C. jejuni and the discovery of a novel virulence megaplasmid provide useful data for pan-genome and large-scale studies to monitor the virulent C. jejuni in poultry meat is warranted.