MAMA-PCR assay for the detection of point mutations associated with high-level erythromycin resistance in Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli strains

Twenty Campylobacter jejuni and 16 Campylobacter coli strains isolated from humans and food/animals, including 17 isolates resistant to erythromycin, were analyzed. A combined mismatch amplification mutation assay-PCR technique was developed to detect the mutations A2074C and A2075G in the 23S rRNA gene associated with erythromycin resistance. All high-level erythromycin-resistant strains examined by DNA sequencing carried the transition mutation A2075G, whereas no isolate carried the A2074C mutation. No mutations were found among the susceptible and low-level erythromycin-resistant strains.