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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE To determine the role of flagellar motor protein MotA in the pathogenesisassociated chemotaxis and colonization of Campylobacter jejuni.
METHODS The motA gene as well as Kan~r gene and plus-motA gene segments for motA gene knock-out were amplified by PCR and the target amplification fragments were sequenced after cloning. A suicide plasmid(pBlueskrit-Ⅱ-SK~(motA-kan)) and a motA gene knock-out mutant (motA~-) were constructed based on homologious recombination. By using semisolid plate migration test, hard agar plus (HAP)-based chemotactic test towards sodium deoxycholate (SDC) in vitro, and jejunal colonization test in BALB/c-ByJ mice were performed to determine the differences of flagellar motility, chemotaxis towards SDC and colonization in murine jejunum between motA~- mutant and wild-type strain.
RESULTS The nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the cloned motA gene were 100% identical to the reported corresponding sequences. The results of PCR, sequencing and continuous passage culture in antibiotics-contained medium demonstrated that both suicide plasmid and motA~- mutant were successfully generated. The diameters of clonies on semisolid plate and 0.2 mol/L SDC-induced chemotactic tings in HAP as well as the bacterial numbers adhering to the surface of murine jejunal mucosa and in jejunal content of motA~- mutant were significantly less than those of wild-type strain(P<0.05).
CONCLUSION A motA gene knock-out mutant of C. jejuni was successfully constructed in this study, motA is an essential gene for flagellax motility, pathogenesis-associated chemotaxis and colonization of C. jejuni.
Language: zh |