Characterisation of the Chemotaxis Signalling Pathway of Campylobacter Jejuni

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni colonizes the intestinal mucosa of all food-producing animals and humans (Newell & Fearnley, 2003) and is the leading cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide (Blaser, 1997; Friedman et al., 2000). It is unclear exactly how C. jejuni induces disease outcome in humans, however, a number of factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this organism, including colonization and adherence, invasion and translocation, toxin production, LOS and capsule structures, flagella and motility, protein glycosylation and chemotaxis. Chemotactic behaviour has been demonstrated in C. jejuni (Hugdahl et al., 1988) and previous studies have shown the importance of chemotactic motility to the ability of C. jejuni to colonize and cause disease (Takata et al., 1992; Yao et al., 1997). However, the mechanisms controlling the C. jejuni chemotaxis signalling pathway remain largely unknown.