The lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis locus of Campylobacter jejuni 81116

Most Campylobacter jejuni strains express lipo-oligosaccharides. Some strains also express lipopolysaccharides (LPS), with O-antigen-like carbohydrate repeats. C. jejuni 81116 expresses an LPS containing both lipo-oligosaccharides and O-antigen-sike repeats, but nothing is known about the structure or sugar composition of these LPS species. A cosmid library of the genome of C. jejuni 81116 was constructed and probed with Campylobacter hyoilei genes involved in LPS synthesis. Five cosmids hybridized with the probe and two of these expressed C. jejuni 81116 LPS in Escherichia coli. By subcloning, a 16 kb DNA region was identified which contains the genetic information required to express C. jejuni LPS. DNA sequence analysis revealed 11 ORFs homologous to genes involved in LPS synthesis of other bacteria. They consisted of three homologues of sugar biosynthesis genes, two homologues of transport genes and six homologues of sugar transferases.