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ABSTRACTNinety-six Campylobacter upsaliensisstrains that originated from Australia, Canada, and Europe (Germany) and that were isolated from humans, dogs, and cats were serotyped for their heat-stable surface antigens. All of them were genotyped by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence PCR (ERIC-PCR) profiling, and 83 strains were genotyped by macrorestriction analysis with the endonuclease XhoI. Eighty-four percent of the strains belonged to five different serotypes (serotypes OI, OII, OIII, OIV, and OVI), with the proportions of strains in each serotype being comparable among the groups of strains from all three continents. Two serotypes, OIII and OIV, were prevalent at rates of 35 to 40%. Serotypes OI, OII, and OVI were detected at rates of 1.5 to 15%. Between 10 and 17.7% of the strains did not react with the available antisera. Analysis of the ERIC-PCR profiles revealed two distinct genotypic clusters, which represented the German and the non-European strains, respectively. XhoI macrorestriction yielded two genotypic clusters; one of them contained 80.2% of the German strains and 34.6% of the non-European strains, and the second cluster consisted of 65.4% of the non-European strains and 19.8% of the German strains. Fourteen strains from all three continents were analyzed for their 16S rRNA gene sequences. Only two minor variations were detected in four of the strains. In conclusion, C. upsaliensishas undergone diverging processes of genome arrangement on different continents during evolution without segregating into different subspecies.

ABSTRACTA serotyping scheme based on heat-stable surface antigens was established for 101 Campylobacter upsaliensisand 10Campylobacter helveticusstrains isolated from 261 dogs and 46 cats of different ages originating from two geographically distinct regions in Germany. The prevalence of C. upsaliensisvaried between 27.8% in juvenile dogs (<12 months of age) and 55.4% in adult dogs (P< 0.05). Of the cats, 19.6% harbored C. upsaliensis, whereas 21.7% carried C. helveticus. Of the C. upsaliensisisolates from both host species, 93.1% belonged to five different serogroups, two of them being prevalent at rates of 47.5 and 27.7%, with different frequencies in both regions. Six (54.6%) of the C. helveticusisolates also belonged to serotypes found among C. upsaliensisstrains, whereas five (45.4%) possessed an O antigen unique for C. helveticus. In contrast, a considerable degree of genomic diversity of the isolates was assessed by macrorestriction analyses with the endonucleases SmaI and XhoI, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis as well as enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence PCR (ERIC PCR). Restriction with SmaI pointed towards the existence of clonal groups associated to some extent with serotypes, while restriction withXhoI disintegrated these groups to smaller noncoherent subgroups. Analysis of ERIC PCR profiles did not exhibit any associations with serotypes. In conclusion these data demonstrate the genomic heterogeneity among C. upsaliensisstrains and indicate that the combination of SmaI restriction with serotyping is a useful tool to investigate the expansion of clonal groups of C. upsaliensis.