Campylobacter jejuni
A Microbial Biorealm page on the genus Campylobacter jejuni
Classification
Higher order taxa
Kingdom: Bacteria, Phylum: Proteobacteria, Class: Epsilon Proteobacteria, Order: Campylobacterales, Family: Campylobacteraceae.
Species
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NCBI: Taxonomy |
Genus: Campylobacter, Species: C. jejuni.
Description and significance
Campylobacter jejuni is a gram negative bacteria that is curved and rod-shaped. It is most commonly found in animal feces, especially in wombad, kangaroo and bird feces. Campylobacter jejuni is a microaerophilic organism, this means that it requires an environment that contains reduced concentration of oxygen (~3-5% of oxygen and ~2-10% of carbon dioxide). Because of this requirement, it is very sensitive to stress in the environment. For example, too much oxygen, acidic condition, heating, and drying. Campylobacter jejuni is the number one cause of foodborn illness in the United States. Therefore, it is very important to sequence its genom to determine its role in these foodborn illnesses and effective treatments can be developed. Campylobacter jejuni is present in high levels in diarrheal stools of an infected individual as well as animal feces. This bacteria can be isolated from humans and animals. Isolation requires and special antibiotic-containing media and an environment that contains optimal level of oxygen for microaerophilic organims.
Genome structure
The genom of Campylobacter jejuni consist of circular DNA and 1,616,554 nucleotides. It has 1707 genes and 1653 coding proteins. The GC content of Campylobacter jejuni is about 30% and the percentage coding of the bacteria is about 93%. The sequence of Campylobacter jejuni is variable. The eight distribution of varialbe sequences showed that they can use alternative terminal electron acceptor for oxygen. This represents the diverse life sources for Campylobacter jejuni. According to MLST type, the correlation of clonal complex and distribution of the genes is strong. However, these distribution of genes showed no evidence for their host preferences. Therefore, widespread horizontal gene transfer between clonal complexes is not supported.
Cell structure and metabolism
Describe any interesting features and/or cell structures; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces. Campylobacer jejuni is a gram negative bacteria like bacilli. It is microaerophilic and non-fermentive organism. Its structure is similar to most gram negative bacteria. It has one flagellum at one pole or both poles of the cell. The cell contains an outer membrane and and inner membrane with pariplasm in between the two membranes. The outer membrane consist of lipopolysaccharide which are endotoxic. Membrane proteins are embedded on the outer membrane surface, they are antigenic and are used for invation of the host.
Ecology
Describe any interactions with other organisms (included eukaryotes), contributions to the environment, effect on environment, etc.
Pathology
How does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.
Application to Biotechnology
Does this organism produce any useful compounds or enzymes? What are they and how are they used?
Current Research
Enter summaries of the most recent research here--at least three required
References
Edited by student of [lshi@ucsd.edu LiJie Shi]
