In vitro antimicrobial susceptibility, genetic diversity and prevalence of UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (galE) gene in Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni from Turkey production facilities

This study evaluated the genetic diversity of multi-drug resistant Campylobacter jejuni (n=44) and C. coli (n=30) isolated from 18 turkey houses. Antimicrobial resistances to ampicillin, ciprofloxacin and nalidixic acid were higher (P<0.05) in C. coli than in C. jejuni strains. PCR analysis indicated that 82% of total isolates tested, including 91% of C. jejuni and 70% of C. coli tested positive for a 496-bp UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (galE) gene. The diversity of isolates was mapped by antibiogram, SmaI-PFGE and flaA-RFLP typing methods using the discriminatory index (DI). RFLP was more suitable in discriminating C. coli (DI=0.895) than PFGE (DI=0.816) or antibiogram profile (DI=0.552), while either PFGE (DI=0.941) or RFLP (DI=0.942) could be used in discriminating C. jejuni strains. The combined PFGE and antibiogram dendrogram had the highest DI for both C. coli (0.910) and C. jejuni (0.968), suggesting that a combination of typing methods is more useful in examining the diverse Campylobacter population on turkey farms.