Molecular determination of genetic diversity among Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli isolated from milk, water, and meat samples using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR (ERIC-PCR)

Consumption of contaminated meat, milk, and water are among the major routes of human campylobacteriosis. This study aimed to determined the genetic diversity of C. coli and C. jejuni isolated from meat, milk, and water samples collected from different locations. From the 376 samples (meat = 248, cow milk = 72, and water = 56) collected, a total of 1238 presumptive Campylobacter isolates were recovered and the presence of the genus Campylobacter were detected in 402 isolates, and from which, 85 and 67 isolates were identified asC. jejuni and C. coli respectively. Of which, 71 isolates identified as C. coli (n = 35) and C. jejuni (n = 36) were randomly selected from meat, milk, and water samples and were genotyped using enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR (ERIC-PCR). The digital images of the ERIC-PCR genotype were analyzed by GelJ v.2.0 software. The diversity and similarity of the isolates were assessed via an unweighted-pair group method using average linkages clustering algorithm. The results showed that the 36 C. jejuni strains separated into 29 ERIC-genotypes and 4 clusters while the 35 C. coli were delineated into 29 ERIC-genotypes and 6 clusters. The study revealed the genetic diversity among C. coli and C. jejuni strains recovered from different matrices characterized by Gelj.