Essential role of invasin for colonization and persistence of Yersinia enterocolitica in its natural reservoir host, the pig.

In this study, an oral minipig infection model was established to investigate the pathogenicity of Yersinia enterocolitica bioserotype 4/O:3. O:3 strains are highly prevalent in pigs, which are usually symptomless carriers, and they represent the most common cause of human yersiniosis. To assess the pathogenic potential of the O:3 serotype, we compared the colonization properties of Y. enterocolitica O:3 with O:8, a highly mouse-virulent Y. enterocolitica serotype, in minipigs and mice. We found that O:3 is a significantly better colonizer of swine than is O:8. Coinfection studies with O:3 mutant strains demonstrated that small variations within the O:3 genome leading to higher amounts of the primary adhesion factor invasin (InvA) improved colonization and/or survival of this serotype in swine but had only a minor effect on the colonization of mice. We further demonstrated that a deletion of the invA gene abolished long-term colonization in the pigs. Our results indicate a primary role for invasin in naturally occurring Y. enterocolitica O:3 infections in pigs and reveal a higher adaptation of O:3 than O:8 strains to their natural pig reservoir host.

Closely related Campylobacter jejuni strains from different sources reveal a generalist rather than a specialist lifestyle.

BACKGROUND: Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are human intestinal pathogens of global importance. Zoonotic transmission from livestock animals or animal-derived food is the likely cause for most of these infections. However, little is known about their general and host-specific mechanisms of colonization, or virulence and pathogenicity factors. In certain hosts, Campylobacter species colonize persistently and do not cause disease, while they cause acute intestinal disease in humans. RESULTS: Here, we investigate putative host-specificity using phenotypic characterization and genome-wide analysis of genetically closely related C. jejuni strains from different sources. A collection of 473 fresh Campylobacter isolates from Germany was assembled between 2006 and 2010 and characterized using MLST. A subset of closely related C. jejuni strains of the highly prevalent sequence type ST-21 was selected from different hosts and isolation sources. PCR typing of strain-variable genes provided evidence that some genes differed between these strains. Furthermore, phenotypic variation of these strains was tested using the following criteria: metabolic variation, protein expression patterns, and eukaryotic cell interaction. The results demonstrated remarkable phenotypic diversity within the ST-21 group, which however did not correlate with isolation source. Whole genome sequencing was performed for five ST-21 strains from chicken, human, bovine, and food sources, in order to gain insight into ST-21 genome diversity. The comparisons showed extensive genomic diversity, primarily due to recombination and gain of phage-related genes. By contrast, no genomic features associated with isolation source or host were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The genome information and phenotypic data obtained in vitro and in a chicken infection model provided little evidence of fixed adaptation to a specific host. Instead, the dominant C. jejuni ST-21 appeared to be characterized by phenotypic flexibility and high genetic microdiversity, revealing properties of a generalist. High genetic flexibility might allow generalist variants of C. jejuni to reversibly express diverse fitness factors in changing environments.