Lipooligosaccharide core truncations affect the ability of Campylobacter jejuni to attach to glass and form biofilms under aerobic conditions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) core truncations on the ability of Campylobacter jejuni to attach to glass and form biofilms under aerobic conditions. We compared the wild-type and previously constructed glycosyltransferase mutants of two C. jejuni strains, NCTC 11168 and 81-176, in terms of the numbers of attached cells, biofilm formation, autoag-glutination (AAG) activity, and extracellular DNA (eDNA) release. All LOS mutants of NCTC 11168, except cj1138 mutant, and 81-176 waaC mutant with most severe LOS truncation, exhibited increased attachment and biofilm formation. Conversely, waaC and lgtF mutant of both NCTC 11168 and 81-176 showed significantly reduced AAG activity. There was no significant difference between all LOS mutants and the wild-type with respect to eDNA production. The biofilm formation levels correlated significantly with the attachment numbers (p < 0.05, R2 = 0.95) but not with the AAG activity and eDNA levels (p ≥ 0.48, R2 ≤ 0.72). These results suggest that various LOS core truncations have different impacts on C. jejuni attachment, biofilm formation under aerobic conditions, and the AAG activity levels, whereas they may not affect eDNA production. Bacterial attachment, but not the AAG activity and eDNA release levels, may cause changes in C. jejuni biofilm formation because of LOS core truncations.