Transcriptomic changes of Campylobacter jejuni subsp. jejuni strain 81-176 in water

Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of campylobacteriosis in the developed world. Although most cases are caused by consumption of contaminated meat, a significant proportion is caused by consumption of contaminated water. Some C. jejuni isolates are better than others at surviving in water, which suggests that these strains are better adapted to transmission by water than others. The aim of this study is to investigate this phenomenon further. CFU counts and viability assays showed that strain 81116 survives better than strain 81-176 in a defined freshwater medium at 4°C. Comparative transcriptomic profiling using microarray revealed that these strains respond differently to water. This series presents the transcriptome of strain 81-176 in water. Campylobacter jejuni was first cultured on TSA-Blood plate at 42 °C for 2 days. C. jejuni was suspended in 100 ml of Fraquil or Brucella broth at an OD600 of 1 in triplicates and washed three times with either Fraquil or Brucella broth. The suspensions were then incubated at 4°C for 4h. RNA was extractedl, labelled, and hybridized on microarrays, with labeled gDNA as reference channel.