Zh. Pei et al., MUTATION IN THE PEB1A LOCUS OF CAMPYLOBACTER-JEJUNI REDUCES INTERACTIONS WITH EPITHELIAL-CELLS AND INTESTINAL COLONIZATION OF MICE, Infection and immunity, 66(3), 1998, pp. 938-943
Campylobacter jejuni is one of the leading causes of bacterial diarrhe
a throughout the world. We previously found that PERI is a homolog of
cluster 3 binding proteins of bacterial ABC transporters and that a C.
jejuni adhesin, cell-binding factor 1 (CBF1), if not identical to, co
ntains PEB1. A single protein migrating at approximately 27 to 28 kDa
was recognized by anti-CBF1 and anti-PEB1. To determine the role that
the operon encoding PEB1 plays in C. jejuni adherence, peb1A, the gene
encoding PEB1, was disrupted in strain 81-176 by insertion of a kanam
ycin resistance gene through homologous recombination. Inactivation of
this operon completely abolished expression of CBF1, as determined by
sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyaccrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)
and immunoblotting. In comparison to the wild-type strain, the mutant
strain showed 50- to 100-fold less adherence to and 15-fold less inva
sion of epithelial cells in culture, Mouse challenge studies showed th
at the rate and duration of intestinal colonization by the mutant were
significantly lower and shorter than with the wild-type strain. In su
mmary, PEB1 is identical to a previously identified cell-binding facto
r, CBF1, in C. jejuni, and the peb1A locus plays an important role in
epithelial cell interactions and in intestinal colonization in a mouse
model.