Campus Units
Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
12-2017
Journal or Book Title
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Volume
83
Issue
24
First Page
e01685-17
DOI
10.1128/AEM.01685-17
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a leading cause of foodborne illnesses worldwide. As a microaerophilic organism, C. jejuni must be able to defend against oxidative stress encountered both in the host and in the environment. How Campylobacter utilizes a mutation-based mechanism for adaptation to oxidative stress is still unknown. Here we present a previously undescribed phenotypic and genetic mechanism that promotes the emergence of oxidative stress resistant mutants. Specifically, we showed that a naturally occurring mutator phenotype, resulting from a loss of function mutation in the DNA repair enzyme MutY, increased oxidative stress resistance (OXR) in C. jejuni. We further demonstrated that MutY malfunction didn't directly contribute to the OXR phenotype, but increased the spontaneous mutation rate in the peroxide regulator gene perR, which functions as a repressor for multiple genes involved in oxidative stress resistance. Mutations in PerR resulted in loss of its DNA binding function and derepression of PerR-controlled oxidative stress defense genes, thereby conferring an OXR phenotype and facilitating Campylobacter survival under oxidative stress. These findings reveal a new mechanism that promotes the emergence of spontaneous OXR mutants in bacterial organisms.
Copyright Owner
American Society for Microbiology
Copyright Date
2017
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Dai, Lei; Sahin, Orhan; Tang, Yizhi; and Zhang, Qijing, "A mutator phenotype promoting the emergence of spontaneous oxidative stress-resistant mutants in Campylobacter jejuni" (2017). Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine Publications. 181.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/vmpm_pubs/181
Included in
Genetics and Genomics Commons, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology Commons, Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology Commons, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health Commons
Comments
This article is published as Dai, Lei, Orhan Sahin, Yizhi Tang, and Qijing Zhang. "A Mutator Phenotype Promoting the Emergence of Spontaneous Oxidative Stress-Resistant Mutants in Campylobacter jejuni." Applied and environmental microbiology 83, no. 24 (2017): e01685-17. doi: 10.1128/AEM.01685-17. Posted with permission.