Transcriptomic response of Campylobacter jejuni following exposure to acidified sodium chlorite

Gayani Weerasooriya; Andrea R McWhorter; Samiullah Khan; Kapil K Chousalkar

doi:10.1038/s41538-021-00103-5

Transcriptomic response of Campylobacter jejuni following exposure to acidified sodium chlorite

NPJ Sci Food. 2021 Aug 2;5(1):23. doi: 10.1038/s41538-021-00103-5.

Authors

Gayani Weerasooriya¹, Andrea R McWhorter¹, Samiullah Khan¹, Kapil K Chousalkar²

Affiliations

¹ School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, SA, Australia.
² School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy, SA, Australia. kapil.chousalkar@adelaide.edu.au.

Abstract

Chemical decontamination during processing is used in many countries to mitigate the Campylobacter load on chicken meat. Chlorine is a commonly used sanitizer in poultry processing to limit foodborne bacterial pathogens but its efficacy is limited by high bacterial loads and organic material. Acidified sodium chlorite (ASC) is a potential alternative for poultry meat sanitization but little is known about its effects on the cellular response of Campylobacter. In this study, the sensitivity of C. jejuni isolates to ASC was established. RNAseq was performed to characterize the transcriptomic response of C. jejuni following exposure to either chlorine or ASC. Following chlorine exposure, C. jejuni induced an adaptive stress response mechanism. In contrast, exposure to ASC induced higher oxidative damage and cellular death by inhibiting all vital metabolic pathways and upregulating the genes involved in DNA damage and repair. The transcriptional changes in C. jejuni in response to ASC exposure suggest its potential as an effective sanitizer for use in the chicken meat industry.