Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment

Biofilms make an important contribution to survival and transmission of bacterial pathogens in the food chain. The human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is known to form biofilms in vitro in food chain-relevant conditions, but the exact roles and composition of the extracellular matrix are still not c...

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Main Authors:	Brown, Helen L., Hanman, Kate, Reuter, Mark, Betts, Roy P., van Vliet, Arnoud H. M.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4498105/

id	pubmed-4498105
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-44981052015-07-27 Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment Brown, Helen L. Hanman, Kate Reuter, Mark Betts, Roy P. van Vliet, Arnoud H. M. Microbiology Biofilms make an important contribution to survival and transmission of bacterial pathogens in the food chain. The human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is known to form biofilms in vitro in food chain-relevant conditions, but the exact roles and composition of the extracellular matrix are still not clear. Extracellular DNA has been found in many bacterial biofilms and can be a major component of the extracellular matrix. Here we show that extracellular DNA is also an important component of the C. jejuni biofilm when attached to stainless steel surfaces, in aerobic conditions and on conditioned surfaces. Degradation of extracellular DNA by exogenous addition of DNase I led to rapid biofilm removal, without loss of C. jejuni viability. Following treatment of a surface with DNase I, C. jejuni was unable to re-establish a biofilm population within 48 h. Similar results were obtained by digesting extracellular DNA with restriction enzymes, suggesting the need for high molecular weight DNA. Addition of C. jejuni genomic DNA containing an antibiotic resistance marker resulted in transfer of the antibiotic resistance marker to susceptible cells in the biofilm, presumably by natural transformation. Taken together, this suggest that eDNA is not only an important component of C. jejuni biofilms and subsequent food chain survival of C. jejuni, but may also contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance in C. jejuni. The degradation of extracellular DNA with enzymes such as DNase I is a rapid method to remove C. jejuni biofilms, and is likely to potentiate the activity of antimicrobial treatments and thus synergistically aid disinfection treatments. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-07-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4498105/ /pubmed/26217328 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00699 Text en Copyright © 2015 Brown, Hanman, Reuter, Betts and van Vliet. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Brown, Helen L. Hanman, Kate Reuter, Mark Betts, Roy P. van Vliet, Arnoud H. M.
spellingShingle	Brown, Helen L. Hanman, Kate Reuter, Mark Betts, Roy P. van Vliet, Arnoud H. M. Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment
author_facet	Brown, Helen L. Hanman, Kate Reuter, Mark Betts, Roy P. van Vliet, Arnoud H. M.
author_sort	Brown, Helen L.
title	Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment
title_short	Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment
title_full	Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment
title_fullStr	Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment
title_full_unstemmed	Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment
title_sort	campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular dna and are sensitive to dnase i treatment
description	Biofilms make an important contribution to survival and transmission of bacterial pathogens in the food chain. The human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is known to form biofilms in vitro in food chain-relevant conditions, but the exact roles and composition of the extracellular matrix are still not clear. Extracellular DNA has been found in many bacterial biofilms and can be a major component of the extracellular matrix. Here we show that extracellular DNA is also an important component of the C. jejuni biofilm when attached to stainless steel surfaces, in aerobic conditions and on conditioned surfaces. Degradation of extracellular DNA by exogenous addition of DNase I led to rapid biofilm removal, without loss of C. jejuni viability. Following treatment of a surface with DNase I, C. jejuni was unable to re-establish a biofilm population within 48 h. Similar results were obtained by digesting extracellular DNA with restriction enzymes, suggesting the need for high molecular weight DNA. Addition of C. jejuni genomic DNA containing an antibiotic resistance marker resulted in transfer of the antibiotic resistance marker to susceptible cells in the biofilm, presumably by natural transformation. Taken together, this suggest that eDNA is not only an important component of C. jejuni biofilms and subsequent food chain survival of C. jejuni, but may also contribute to the spread of antimicrobial resistance in C. jejuni. The degradation of extracellular DNA with enzymes such as DNase I is a rapid method to remove C. jejuni biofilms, and is likely to potentiate the activity of antimicrobial treatments and thus synergistically aid disinfection treatments.
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4498105/
_version_	1613246321244766208

Campylobacter jejuni biofilms contain extracellular DNA and are sensitive to DNase I treatment

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