Prevalence and Genetic Diversity of C. Jejuni Isolated from Broilers and their Environment Using flaA-RFLP Typing and MLST Analysis

Campylobacter is highly diverse genetically and also undergoes frequent intraspecific recombination. A major source of campylobacteriosis, which is transmitted to humans is found in poultry. The assessment of the genetic diversity among Campylobacter population is critical to our understanding of the epidemiology. The genetic diversity of Campylobacter jejuni isolates in broilers and their environment were investigated by flaA-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The study revealed that 92.3% of the examined broiler flocks were contaminated with Campylobacter spp. A total number of 35 different flaA types defined by flaA-RFLP were found in 448 C. jejuni isolates originated from broilers, litter, puddles, zones, anteroom and wild birds. The most dominant flaA type was XXV. MLST defined 20 sequence types (STs) belonging to 10 clonal complexes (CCs). Among all the STs 9 isolates (15%) were consigned to 2 different STs (ST-7413 and ST-4800), which could not be assigned. The most common CCs were ST-21 and ST-179. The ST-21 CC was common in broilers and environment (puddle water and concentric zones) and the ST-179 CC was specific to wild birds, but also was found in puddle water and concentric zones.