Poster presented in WVA/WMA Global Conference on One Health

May 21^st, 2015

de Cardenas I., Fernandez-Garayzabal JF., de la Cruz ML., Dominguez L. and Gomez S.

Campylobacteriosis remains to be the most commonly reported food-borne zoonosis at the EU level (EFSA, 2014). Similarly to many bacteria and most Archaea, Campylobacter harbors an adaptative immune system, named as CRISPR-cas system, made of a succession of direct repeats interspersed by unique “spacers” sequences. CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats)-cas system provide the protection of the cell against viral infection, conjugative plasmids and other foreign genetic elements through spacer acquisition. As spacers are incorporated in sequential order, CRISPR loci reflect the history of viral infection of the host, so they provide an ecological and epidemiological record (Marraffini; Sorek et al 2013).
We herein present a straightforward method consisting of a multiplex PCR and sequencing of the PCR products. We have designed the primers directed against all known Campylobacter CRISPR, both “confirmed” and “questionable”; these later had been disregarded up to date at genotyping. We were aware that, not only the combination “confirmed” + “questionable” is an excellent tool at Campylobacter genotyping, comparable or even better than other traditional typing methods such as flaA SVR, but also it allows traceability of the different strains. We also discuss the strong relationship among “confirmed” and “questionable” CRISPR

	Servicio de Identificación y Caracterización Microbiana (ICM). Centro de Vigilancia Sanitaria Veterinaria (VISAVET). Universidad Complutense (UCM).
	Departamento de Sanidad Animal. Facultad de Veterinaria. Universidad Complutense (UCM).