The association of the food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni with free-living protozoa: unraveling the cell biological and molecular mechanisms involved in their interaction.

Campylobacter jejuni associates with free-living protozoa, which promotes the survival under adverse conditions, dispersal in the environment and introduction into novel niches. In this project, cell biological and molecular-genomic tools are used to unravel interaction mechanisms with the protozoan model Acanthamoeba. The impact of protozoan passage on the Campylobacter genetic profile and its virulence will be investigated.