The aroA gene of Campylobacter jejuni

The gene for 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase (aroA) cloned from Campylobacter jejuni (Cj) strain 81116 was identified by complementation of an Escherichia coli (Ec) auxotrophic aroA mutant. The Cj aroA gene has been sequenced. It encodes an enzyme of 428 amino acids (aa), that is homologous to other bacterial EPSP synthases, especially that of Bacillus subtilis with which it has a 39% aa identity. The transcriptional start point was mapped. It is present in an upstream open reading frame (ORF) that has a strong homology to the gene encoding phenylalanine tRNA synthetase (pheS). Downstream from aroA another ORF is present which is homologous to the lytB gene of Ec. The stop codon of the aroA gene overlaps the start codon of lytB

Dataset of the phospholipidome and transcriptome of Campylobacter jejuni under different growth conditions

The membrane phospholipid composition is not a stable bacterial characteristic but can change in response to altered environmental conditions. Here we provide the dataset of the phospholipidome and transcriptome of the microaerophilic human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni under different environmental conditions. These data have been used in Cao (2020), The unique phospholipidome of the enteric pathogen C. jejuni: Lysolipids are required for motility at low oxygen availability. Here the abundance of each phospholipid is shown during the growth of C. jejuni for 0-108 h under low and high oxygen conditions (0.3 vs 10% O2). The phospholipid data were obtained by applying high performance liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The transcriptomic data obtained by RNA-seq show the differential expressed genes between logarithmic and stationary grown bacteria. In addition, our data might serve as a reference information for further in-depth investigation to understand the relation between specific phospholipids and the activity of membrane associated proteins

Campylobacter jejuni γ-glutamyltranspeptidase Activity Assay

The enzyme γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT, EC 2.3.2.2) is highly conserved among eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms (Heisterkamp et al., 2008) and has a key function in glutathione metabolism. Although the enzyme is highly conserved and found throughout organisms ranging from bacteria to plants and animals several major difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic GGT can be noticed. They mainly concern the enzyme localization and posttranslational modification. Eukaryotic GGT is cell membrane anchored and highly glycosylated whereas prokaryotic GGT does not undergo this posttranslational modification and is a soluble periplasmic protein. GGT amino acids sequences of diverse origin exhibit high amino acid similarity (Ong et al., 2008). The prokaryotic GGT enzymes are produced as proenzyme, equipped with a typical prokaryotic signal sequence and transported through the inner membrane into the periplasm where the enzyme undergoes autocatalytic cleavage. This proteolysis yields a mature dimer which transfers the γ-glutamyl moieties from extracellular glutathione and related compounds to amino acids or peptides (Hanigan et al., 1998). The GGT enzyme activity can be easily measured as it catalyzes the transfer of a γ-glutamyl group from a colorless substrate, L-γ-glutamyl-3-carboxy-4-nitroanilide, to the acceptor, glycylglycine with leads to the production of yellow colored product, p-nitroaniline (Figure 1) which can be measured by a spectrophotometer (Figure 2). Here we describe a protocol to measure the GGT activity in the Gram-negative bacterium Campylobacter jejuni, with some minor modifications this protocol works also for other Gram-negative bacterial species

Arcobacter spp. possess two very short flagellins of which FlaA is essential for motility

Like Campylobacter and Helicobacter spp., Arcobacter spp. possess two flagellin genes (flaA and flaB) located adjacent to each other. The aim of this study was to characterize the flagellin proteins of Arcobacter spp., because these proteins are known virulence factors in the Epsilonproteobacteria, to which these three species belong. With the exception of Arcobacter nitrofigilis, Arcobacter flagellins are almost half the size of those in other Epsilonproteobacteria. Arcobacter flagellin proteins lack a large part of the variable central region. The low homology observed among flagellins of different Arcobacter species indicates genetic heterology between the members of this genus. Unlike in other Epsilonproteobacteria, the transcription of flagellin genes is not regulated by sigma(28)- or sigma(54)-dependent promoters, which suggests that transcription must be regulated in a different way in Arcobacter spp. Mutational studies revealed that only FlaA is needed for the motility of Arcobacter spp. Quantitative PCR analysis showed that transcription of flaB is higher at 30 degrees C than at 37 degrees C. Mutation of flaB had no effect on motility or on flaA transcription while mutation of flaA abolished motility and increased the transcription of flaB. These results underline that the genus Arcobacter is an unusual taxon in the epsilon subdivision of the Proteobacteria

Campylobacter jejuni γ-glutamyltranspeptidase Activity Assay

The enzyme γ-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT, EC 2.3.2.2) is highly conserved among eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms (Heisterkamp et al., 2008) and has a key function in glutathione metabolism. Although the enzyme is highly conserved and found throughout organisms ranging from bacteria to plants and animals several major difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic GGT can be noticed. They mainly concern the enzyme localization and posttranslational modification. Eukaryotic GGT is cell membrane anchored and highly glycosylated whereas prokaryotic GGT does not undergo this posttranslational modification and is a soluble periplasmic protein. GGT amino acids sequences of diverse origin exhibit high amino acid similarity (Ong et al., 2008). The prokaryotic GGT enzymes are produced as proenzyme, equipped with a typical prokaryotic signal sequence and transported through the inner membrane into the periplasm where the enzyme undergoes autocatalytic cleavage. This proteolysis yields a mature dimer which transfers the γ-glutamyl moieties from extracellular glutathione and related compounds to amino acids or peptides (Hanigan et al., 1998). The GGT enzyme activity can be easily measured as it catalyzes the transfer of a γ-glutamyl group from a colorless substrate, L-γ-glutamyl-3-carboxy-4-nitroanilide, to the acceptor, glycylglycine with leads to the production of yellow colored product, p-nitroaniline (Figure 1) which can be measured by a spectrophotometer (Figure 2). Here we describe a protocol to measure the GGT activity in the Gram-negative bacterium Campylobacter jejuni, with some minor modifications this protocol works also for other Gram-negative bacterial species