Campylobacter jejuni acid tolerance increases when co-incubated with amoebae

• Background: Although Campylobacter jejuni is a frequent cause of bacterial gastroenteritis, one of the enigmas is how thisfragile organism can survive the transit through the acid milieu of the stomach. C. jejuni is very sensitive to low pH, but cansurvive in moderately acid environment for short periods of time. We have previously shown that C. jejuni can colonize andeven replicate in different species of amoebas, thereby gaining protection from adverse environments.Objectives: We evaluated the effects of hydrochloric acid (HCl) on C. jejuni at various pH and time intervals, to study whetherco-cultivation with amoeba influenced C.jejuni acid tolerance. The setup was chosen to mimic the acidified milieu of the humangastrointestinal tract.Methods: Cultures of C. jejuni (CCUG 11284) were co-cultured with Acanthamoeba polyphaga in either PBS or tap wateracidified with HCl to pH 1, 2, 3 and 4. We also evaluated different treatments effect on campylobacter survival, by exposingsome bacterial samples to an acid shock and some to a slower acidification process.Results and conclusions: We show that C. jejuni can withstand pH below the normal range of survival, when co-cultured withA. polyphaga. C. jejuni co-cultured with amoebae survived acidified conditions at pH 3 for 20 hours and pH 2 for approximately5 hours. We also found a pH increase during the experiment, which correlated with campylobacter survival. These results pointto an unknown mechanism for C.jejuni to survive at low pH levels. This could be in the form of excretion of pH-increasingsubstances and simultaneous chemotaxic orientation towards a protective host. Our results could give one possible explanationto C. jejuni survival through the low pH of the gastrointestinal tract.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Mikrobiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Microbiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Mikrobiologi

Microbiology

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