Homonucleotide stretches in chromosomal DNA of Campylobacter jejuni display high frequency polymorphism as detected by direct PCR analysis

Homopolymeric nucleotide tracts have been previously identified in the genome sequence of Campylobacter jejuni 11168 [Parkhill et al., Nature 403 (2000) 665–668]. These tracts are believed to regulate contingency genes but as yet no phenotypic variation has been identified associated with many of these genes. To investigate homopolymeric tracts for genes for which there is no observable phenotype, a method was designed to visualise profiles of the various tract lengths directly at the genomic level by means of PCR and denatured polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Six of the seven contingency genes investigated displayed variation in the length of the respective homonucleotide tracts. Surprisingly, each contingency gene gave a typical peak profile that represented a conserved size distribution of polymorphic forms. For each gene studied, peak profiles were conserved between strains of C. jejuni . Duplicated genes, containing homonucleotide stretches, displayed locus‐specific peak distributions for each gene copy. Contingency genes were polymorphic within single colonies, and the observed complex peak profiles suggested a frequency of slippage several orders of magnitude higher than reported for other organisms. No G7 (or C7) stretch was ever observed, and their absence from the complete genome suggests strong selection against their presence. In view of the predictable outcome of the process leading to these polymorphisms, it is hypothesised that the formation and/or selection of these tracts is not a random process, but is driven by as yet unknown mechanism(s). High‐frequency polymorphism of these genes may be a mechanism by which C. jejuni survives selection bottlenecks between opportunities for growth within a host.