Barriers to Horizontal Gene Transfer in Campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is among the most frequent agent of foodborne gastroenteritis in the world, but its physiology and pathogenesis is less well understood than other bacterial enteric pathogens. This is due in part to the incompatibility of the molecular tools that have enabled advances in the characterization of other bacterial species. Most notably, the dearth of plasmid-based complementation, reporter assays, and plasmid-based unmarked mutagenesis procedures in many of the type strains has hindered research progress. The techniques themselves are not inadequate in Campylobacter species, but rather the barrier to genetic transfer of these genetic constructs from non-Campylobacter cloning stains such as Escherichia coli. Here, we review the modes of genetic transfer in C. jejuni and review the current state of research into the mechanism of each. Also reviewed are two systems (CRISPR-Cas and restriction modification) that are common to many strains of C. jejuni and are at least partly responsible for these barriers.