%0 Journal Article
%T Distribution of flagella secreted protein and integral membrane protein among Campylobacter jejuni isolated from Thailand
%A Piyarat Pootong
%A Oralak Serichantalergs
%A Ladaporn Bodhidatta
%A Fr¨¦d¨¦ric Poly
%A Patricia Guerry
%A Carl J Mason
%J Gut Pathogens
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1757-4749-3-11
%X A total of 103 representative C. jejuni isolates were amplified by PCR for the fspA gene and the adjacent integral membrane protein gene. Two PCR product sizes were amplified using the same primers, an approximately 1600-bp PCR product from 19 strains that contained fspA and integral membrane protein genes and an approximately 800-bp PCR product from 84 strains that contained only the fspA gene. DNA sequencing was performed on the amplified products. The deduced amino acid sequences of both genes were analyzed separately using CLC Free Workbench 4 software. The analysis revealed three groups of FspA. Only FspA group 1 sequences (19/103) (corresponding to fspA1) consisting of 5 subgroups were associated with the adjacent gene encoding the integral membrane protein. FspA group 2 was the largest group (67/103) consisting of 9 subgroups. FspA group 2p (17/103) consisting of 7 subgroups was found to contain stop codons at a position before the terminal 142 position.This study reveals greater heterogeneity of FspA (group 1, 2 and 2p) among Thai C. jejuni isolates than previously reported. Furthermore, the subgroups of FspA groups 1 were associated with groups of integral membrane protein. The significance of these different FspA variants to virulence requires further study.Campylobacter jejuni is a major cause of gastroenteritis worldwide especially in children, travelers, military personnel deployed to developing countries. Although these pathogens are generally considered invasive, the level of invasion of intestinal epithelial cells in vitro varies among strains [1]. Despite the high incidence of human disease and multiple genome sequences [2-5], understanding about the pathogenesis of diarrheal disease at the molecular level is limited. Genomic studies have indicated that C. jejuni strains lack specialized type III secretion systems that are essential to virulence of many other enteric pathogens [6,7]. There are several reports that flagella can function to secrete no
%U http://www.gutpathogens.com/content/3/1/11