Inverse Correlation between Extracellular DNase Activity and Biofilm Formation among Chicken-Derived Campylobacter Strains

Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are important foodborne pathogenic bacteria, particularly in poultry meat. In this study, the presence of extracellular DNase activity was investigated for biofilm-deficient Campylobacter strains versus biofilm-forming Campylobacter strains isolated from chickens, to understand the relationship between extracellular DNase activity and biofilm formation. A biofilm-forming reference strain, C. jejuni NCTC11168, was co-incubated with biofilm non-forming strains isolated from raw chickens or their supernatants. The biofilm non-forming strains or supernatants significantly prohibited the biofilm formation of C. jejuni NCTC11168. In addition, the strains degraded pre-formed biofilms of C. jejuni NCTC11168. Degradation of C. jejuni NCTC11168 biofilm was confirmed after treatment with the supernatant of the biofilm non-forming strain 2-1 by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Quantitative analysis of the biofilm matrix revealed reduction of extracellular DNA (16%) and proteins (8.7%) after treatment. Whereas the biofilm-forming strains C. jejuni Y23-5 and C. coli 34-3 isolated from raw chickens and the C. jejuni NCTC11168 reference strain showed no extracellular DNase activity against their own genomic DNA, most biofilm non-forming strains tested, including C. jejuni 2-1, C. coli 34-1, and C. jejuni 63-1, exhibited obvious extracellular DNase activities against their own or 11168 genomic DNA, except for one biofilm non-former, C. jejuni 22-1. Our results suggest that extracellular DNase activity is a common feature suppressing biofilm formation among biofilm non-forming C. jejuni or C. coli strains of chicken origin.