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Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni represents one of the major causes of bacterial enteritis caused
by food in humans. There are still mechanisms to be deciphered to better understand
better its physiology and pathogenesis. Study of gene expression levels by RT-qPCR
could be used, but to be accurate and reproducible, a good internal control has to
be chosen. The aim of this study was to identify a highly stable housekeeping gene
in Campylobacter jejuni that could constitute a good internal control to study gene
expression variations between different growth phases or stress conditions. Expression
levels of six different housekeeping genes (gyrA, ilvC, rpoA, slyD, thiC and rrs)
were measured by RT-qPCR under different conditions (exponential phase, stationary
phase, cold shock, cold shock+oxidative stress, oxidative stress). The rpoA gene was
chosen as the best internal control. In a previous study, 9 proteins were identified
as involved in oxidative stress response, among which 3 virulence factors. Expression
levels of genes coding for these proteins was evaluated by RT-qPCR using rpoA as an
internal control. The results obtained were concordant with what had been observed
at the proteomic level, validating the methods used and confirming the hypothesis
of a potential link between oxidative stress and virulence factors expression.