Effect of growth phase on the adherence to and invasion of Caco-2 epithelial cells by Campylobacter

The effect of growth phase on the adherence to and invasion of Caco-2 epithelial cells by five strains of Campylobacter was studied. No significant differences were observed between the behaviors in the exponential or stationary phases for the most stationary-phase tolerant strains (C. jejuni 118 and C. coli LP2), while the strains that produced a greater reduction in the viability in the stationary phase (C. jejuni 11351, C. jejuni 11168 and C. jejuni LP1), also presented reduced adherence to and invasion of Caco-2 cells. In order to find a possible explanation for the observed differences, the presence of putative virulence factors was studied in the analyzed strains. In spite of the fact that C. jejuni 118 and C. jejuni 11168 strains showed a different adherence to and invasion of Caco-2 cells behavior, they posses identical alleles for ciaB, cadF, and pldA loci. From the virulence factors analyzed, only the flaA locus was different among both strains.