FACTORS IMPORTANT FOR PATHOGENICITY IN CAMPYLOBACTER JEJUNI: BIOTERRORISM

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Campylobacter jejuni is a significant emerging bacterial food borne pathogen of humans that causes a spectrum of diseases including gastroenteritis, proctitis, septicemia, abortion, meningitis, and ascending paralysis. As few as 800 organisms in poultry, pork, beef or other foods and water can cause disease. 1 out of 1000 exposed people develop debilitating neurological disease. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in establishment of a C. jejuni infection. Domestic animals are a significant source of the bacterium for humans, but the mechanisms of transfer from animals to humans are not fully understood. Chickens, cattle and pigs carry C. jejuni as a GI commensal and only rarely develop clinical disease and pathology due to the bacterium. The long-term goal of our research is to eliminate Campylobacter from the food chain. The long-term goal of this project is to develop proteomic methods that could serve as a resource for the MSU research community, the veterinary community, food animal producers, USDA, the medical community, and US bioterrorism research. We will work with our collaborators in the Center to establish methods for typing Campylobacter isolates using automated high throughput 2 dimensional electrophoresis methods. We have assembled over 2500 isolates from animals and humans with disease due to Campylobacter, as well as isolates from normal animals and the environment. Protein expression profiles will be established for some of these strains. Once generated, patterns will be compared and unique proteins explored for identity and function, and a database will be generated. Numerous applications will arise from the information generated, but we will focus on identifying virulence attributes shared by isolates causing disease and not present in nonpathogenic commensals. In the long term we will develop a profile for pathogenic C. jejuni isolates that could serve as a rapid screen for characterizing isolates in outbreaks and other applications. This will serve as a demonstration project for developing automated rapid screens for pathogenic microorganisms using proteomics.