News

Dec 1, 2024

  • Student activities
  • Research
  • Graduate School

【Publishment of research paper】 Research outcome of graduate student, Wen Wen, has been published in J Vet Med Sci.

Congralulations!!

Ms. Wen Wen is a graduate student from China who is belonging to the laboratory of International Prevention of Epidemics.

Her research outcome has been published in a international journal.

Click also here (in Japanese)


Journal:  Journal of Veterinary Medical Science

Title:  Campylobacter fetus isolates from both human patients and healthy cattle carry three distinct cytolethal distending toxin (cdt) gene clusters.

Authors:  Wen Wen, Noritoshi Hatanaka, Srinuan Somroop, Sharda Prasad Awasthi, Atsushi Hinenoya, Shinji Yamasaki*.

Abstract:  
Campylobacter fetus is a zoonotic pathogen. Although the precise virulence mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated, cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is considered as one of the well-characterized virulence factors in Campylobacter. In silico analysis of the genome of C. fetus type strain ATCC27374T indicates that there are three cdt gene clusters, Cfcdt-I, Cfcdt-II and Cfcdt-III. However, it is not clear whether these clusters are ubiquitously present in C. fetus and their association with diseases in humans and animals. In this study, we have analyzed the distribution and nucleotide sequences of these cdt gene clusters in 137 C. fetus strains isolated from human patients and healthy cattle. MLST and PFGE were also applied to determine clonal relationship between C. fetus strains isolated from patients and cattle. We found all C. fetus strains carry three Cfcdt gene clusters by colony hybridization assay and the strains belonged to 38 different pulsotypes. Whole genome sequencing of 38 C. fetus strains was carried out to determine the entire cdt gene cluster sequences and their sequence type (ST). Among 38 strains, six STs were identified, and each cdt gene cluster showed high similarity (>99%). Interestingly, some of these Cfcdt genes are more similar to the cdt genes of other Campylobacter species than other Cfcdt gene types. Altogether, the results suggest that three Cfcdt gene clusters are highly conserved in C. fetus and the strains belonging to ST-6 may be more pathogenic to human.

Keywords: Campylobacter fetus; cytolethal distending toxin (cdt); sequence type (ST); zoonotic pathogen.

SDGs

  • SDGs03