What Makes a Campylobacter Strain Virulent?
Here’s the puzzle: You have two samples of what seem to be the food-poisoning microbe Campylobacter jejuni. A quick look at the specimens with a microarray assay (see main story) shows no immediately apparent differences in their genes. But when you expose piglets animals susceptible to this microbe to the bacteria, one strain makes the animals ill, while the other affects them only mildly. Why the difference? ARS food safety researchers Craig T. Parker, at Albany, California, and colleague Michael E. Konkel at Washington State University in Pullman, are designing a series of experiments that should enable them to find out. What’s more, their work may help other scientists who are investigating the virulence of other major foodborne pathogens. Even though their preliminary microarray scan failed to reveal significant differences in the C. jejuni specimens’ DNA, this technology offers another option one that allows them to delve more deeply. Instead of beginning with the microbe’s DNA,
