Cattle adaptation of Campylobacter jejuni

Modern agriculture has dramatically changed the distribution of animal species on earth. Changes to host ecology have a major impact on the microbiota, potentially increasing the risk of zoonotic pathogens being transmitted to humans, but the impact of intensive livestock production on host-associated bacteria has rarely been studied. Here we use large isolate collections [doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.9929054] and comparative genomics techniques, linked to phenotype studies, to understand the time-scale and genomic adaptations that promote proliferation of the most common food-born bacterial pathogen (C. jejuni) in the most extensively farmed agricultural mammal (cattle).