Campylobacter showae sp. nov., Isolated from the Human Oral Cavity

Abstract

Nine Campylobacter-like strains were isolated from human gingival crevices and characterized. These strains were gram-negative, straight rods that were motile by means of multiple unipolar flagella. They were asaccharolytic and preferred an anaerobic atmosphere rather than a microaerophilic atmosphere for growth, and their growth was stimulated by formate and fumarate. These strains were biochemically similar to Campylobacter curvus and Campylobacter rectus, but were clearly distinguishable from these organisms by the number of flagella (two to five flagella at one end of the cell), by being catalase positive, by their whole-cell protein profiles, by their Western blot (immunoblot) patterns, and on the basis of DNA-DNA homology data. They could also be differentiated from the other species of the genus CampyZobacter. The nine Campylohcterlike strains were compared with two strains (FDC 286 and VPI 10279) representing a previously described but unnamed WolinelZu sp, The nine isolates and strains FDC 286 and VPI 10279 were found to be members of a single species. The 16s rRNA sequences of two strains of the newly identified species were compared with the rRNA sequences of 21 reference Campylobacter, Wolinelh, and Helicobacter species in order to generate a phylogenetic tree. We propose the name Campylobacter showae for the newly identified strains; strain SU A4 (= ATCC 51146) is the type strain of this new species.Previously, we isolated several Wolinella-like strains from human subgingival dental plaque (16) and subsequently proposed Wolinella cuwa subsp. intemedius as a new subspecies for two of the isolates (SU A4T [T = type strain] and SU A5) (4). These organisms could be differentiated at least at the subspecies level by morphological, biochemical, antigenic, and DNA-DNA homology methods from the other human oral Wolinella species, W. cuwa and Wolinella recta, which recently have been transferred to the genus Campylobacter as Campylobacter cuwus and Campylobacter rectus, respectively, by Vandamme et al. (24,25). In order to more fully describe the status of a new species in the genus Campylobacter, seven additional strains were isolated; thus, a total of nine strains, including SU A4T and SU A5, were characterized. These nine isolates were compared with Wolinella sp. strains FDC 286 (22) and VPI 10279 (14) and strains of other Campylobacter species (19,20,24,25). A 16s rRNA sequence analysis was used to determine the phylogenetic position of strains SU A4T and VPI 10279. The nine isolates and strains FDC 286 and VPI 10279 are members of a new species, for which we propose the name Campylobacter showae . MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains and characterization. The sources and accession numbers of the isolates and reference strains examined in this study are shown in Table 1. The nine Camwlobacter-like strains were isolated from the dental plaque of gingival crevices of nine apparently healthy adults on plates containing modified CBRCA (26), which is a selective medium for Campylobacter, Fusobactenum, Bacte...

Campylobacter hominis sp. nov., from the human gastrointestinal tract.

“…Several share similar cell morphologies : for example, both C. hominis sp. nov. and C. gracilis are aflagellate straight rods, whilst C. showae and C. concisus are flagellate straight rods (Etoh et al, 1993 ;Tanner et al, 1981). Thus overall phylogenetic, physiological, morphological and ecological properties of these species suggest that they may have a common ancestor within the genus Campylobacter.…”

“…2). They all show a requirement for growth in an anaerobic environment, and\or require H # for optimum growth (Etoh et al, 1993 ;Tanner et al, 1981 ;Vandamme & Goossens, 1992). Furthermore, most of these species are associated with the periodontal crevice of humans and are rarely associated with gastroenteritis.…”

Campylobacter lanienae sp. nov., a new species isolated from workers in an abattoir.

“…The faeces were inoculated onto Campylosel agar (bioMe! rieux), consisting of 5 % (v\v) blood in Columbia agar base with the selective antibiotics cefoperazone (32 mg 01292 # 2000 IUMS Data were obtained from with the following exceptions : Campylobacter gracilis (Tanner et al, 1981), Campylobacter showae (Etoh et al, 1993), Campylobacter helveticus (Stanley et al, 1992) and Campylobacter hyoilei (C. coli) (Alderton et al, 1995 …”

Phylogenetic and molecular characterization of a 23S rRNA gene positions the genus Campylobacter in the epsilon subdivision of the Proteobacteria and shows that the presence of transcribed spacers is common in Campylobacter spp

“…For example, partial 16S rRNA sequences have been used in a number of phylogenetic studies of the Campylobacter group of organisms (21,30,42,50,54,58) and in the development of rapid identification methodology (48,49,63). The 16S rRNA genes of C. jejuni, C. coli, and a number of other campylobacters have also been sequenced (7,9,55,63). The sequence of a 5S rRNA gene of C. jejuni has also been reported (30).…”

“…The most recently published phylogenetic tree based on small-subunit rRNA sequences has the group positioned in the delta and epsilon subdivisions of the Proteobacteria (purple bacteria) (39). There are 11 Campylobacter species (9,56), and the roles of several of these species in diseases of humans and animals have been well described (43). Typically, these small, nutritionally fastidious, microaerophilic, gram-negative spiral bacteria colonize moist body surfaces, including the human gingival cavity, the small intestinal mucosa, and the vaginal mucosa of bovines and this colonization leads to disease.…”