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PMID: 10768949 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The galE gene of Campylobacter jejuni is involved in lipopolysaccharide synthesis and virulence.

Infection and immunity ·Vol. 68 ·No. 5 ·2000-05-00 ·Pages 2594-601

Fry BN, Feng S, Chen YY, Newell DG, Coloe PJ, Korolik V

Abstract

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is one of the main virulence factors of gram-negative bacteria. The LPS from Campylobacter spp. has endotoxic properties and has been shown to play a role in adhesion. We previously cloned a gene cluster (wla) which is involved in the synthesis of the Campylobacter jejuni 81116 LPS molecule. Sequence alignment of the first gene in this cluster indicated similarity with galE genes. These genes encode a UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, which catalyzes the interconversion of UDP-galactose and UDP-glucose. A Salmonella galE mutant was transformed with the galE gene from C. jejuni. The LPS analysis of wild-type, galE, and complemented galE Salmonella strains showed that the C. jejuni galE gene could restore the smooth wild-type Salmonella LPS. A UDP-glucose 4-epimerase assay was used to demonstrate that the galE gene from C. jejuni encoded this epimerase. We constructed a C. jejuni galE mutant which expressed a lipid A-core molecule of reduced molecular weight that did not react with antiserum raised against the parental strain. These results show an essential role for the galE gene in the synthesis of C. jejuni LPS. The galE mutant also showed a reduction in its ability to adhere to and invade INT407 cells. However, it was still able to colonize chickens to the same level as the wild-type strain. The serum resistance and hemolytic activity of this mutant were not changed compared to the parent strain. The ability of the mutant to take up DNA and integrate it in its genome was reduced 20-fold. These results show that LPS of C. jejuni is an important virulence factor.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Bacterial Proteins/genetics,metabolism,physiology Campylobacter jejuni/enzymology,genetics,pathogenicity Genes, Bacterial Humans Lipopolysaccharides/biosynthesis Molecular Sequence Data Sequence Homology, Amino Acid UDPglucose 4-Epimerase/genetics,metabolism,physiology Virulence
Chemicals
Bacterial Proteins Lipopolysaccharides UDPglucose 4-Epimerase galactose epimerase
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Fry B N
Department of Applied Biology and Biotechnology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne 3001, Victoria Australia. ben.fry@rmit.edu.au
Feng S
Chen Y Y
Newell D G
Coloe P J
Korolik V
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Article Info
Journal
Infection and immunity
Abbr.
Infect Immun
ISSN
0019-9567
DOI
10.1128/IAI.68.5.2594-2601.2000
Email
ben.fry@rmit.edu.au
Published
2000-05-00
Pages
2594-601
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0246127
PMCID
PMC97464
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/IAI.68.5.2594-2601.2000 PMC Full Text View journal details
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