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 ATCC27374
T
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.