A nitric oxide responsive regulatory network in Campylobacter jejuni: its role in intracellular survival and resistance to nitrosative stresses

这种细菌被称为空肠弯曲杆菌（Campylobacter jejuni，缩写为C。在英国，细菌性食物中毒最常见的原因是空肠。它引起消化系统疾病，导致痛苦和大量腹泻。虽然这种疾病通常不会致命，但它非常令人不快，并造成许多痛苦和经济损失。C.空肠通常存在于鸡的肠道内，在那里它不会引起疾病。然而，当鸡被屠宰用于食品生产时，细菌会转移到鸡肉中，如果没有正确烹饪，可能会导致食物中毒。作为身体抵御感染的第一道防线的一部分，免疫系统可以产生一种名为一氧化氮的有毒气体，当溶解在感染细菌周围的液体中时，能够摧毁它们。我们发现C.空肠对一氧化氮有抵抗作用。要做到这一点，细菌必须首先能够检测到有毒气体，然后产生蛋白质来中和一氧化氮。我们相信我们已经找到了C中一氧化氮的检测器。jejuni和这个项目将利用这些信息来发现细菌是如何抵抗这种杀伤剂的。在描述了这个系统之后，我们将试图找出这个系统是否是感染所必需的。在未来，这些结果可以用来开发新的方法来控制这种细菌，通过阻断其抵抗一氧化氮的能力。

The bacterium called Campylobacter jejuni (abbreviated to C. jejuni) is the most common cause of bacterial food poisoning in the UK. It causes a disease of the digestive system that results in painful and profuse diarrhoea. Whilst the disease is not generally fatal, it is highly unpleasant and causes much misery and economic loss. C. jejuni normally lives in the intestine of chickens where it does not cause disease. However, when chickens are slaughtered for food production the bacterium is transferred to the chicken meat, which, if not cooked properly, can cause food poisoning. As part of the body's first defence against infection, the immune system can generate a toxic gas called nitric oxide that, when dissolved in the fluid around the infecting bacteria, is able to destroy them. We have discovered that C. jejuni can resist nitric oxide. To do this the bacterium must first be able to detect the toxic gas and then produce proteins to neutralise the nitric oxide. We believe that we have found the detector for nitric oxide in C. jejuni and this project would use this information to find out how the bacterium resists this killing agent. Having characterised this system we would try to find out if the system is essential for infection. In future, the results could be used to develop novel ways of controlling this bacterium by blocking its ability to resist nitric oxide.