Essential genome of Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter species are a leading cause of bacterial foodborne illness worldwide. Despite of the global efforts to curb the infection, the Campylobacter infections have increased continuously in both developed and developing countries, which warrants development of effective strategies to control the infection. The essential genes of bacteria are usually the most prominent targets for the purpose. In this study, we used transposon sequencing (Tn-seq) of a genome-saturating library of Tn5 insertion mutants to redefine the essential genome of C. jejuni. Comparative analysis among this and previous studies identified 50 core essential genes of C. jejuni, that can be further investigated for the development of novel target to limit the spread of this notorious foodborne pathogen.