Use of non-radioactive DNA probes for detection of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in stool specimens.

DNA probes specific for C. jejuni (pDT1720 containing a 1475 base pair fragment) and for C. jejuni and C. coli (pDT1719 containing a 1845 base pair fragment) were isolated from a bacteriophage lambda gt11 genomic library of C. jejuni, using antiserum prepared against a 46 kDa major outer membrane protein of C. jejuni. The two probe-fragments had different restriction maps and were only moderately related by DNA hybridization analysis. A non-radioactive labelling kit which consisted of alkaline phosphatase conjugated anti-digoxigenin antiserum and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoyl phosphate with nitroblue tetrazolium as the colour substrate, which gives a purple colour for positive hybridization, was used to test 140 stool specimens, 70 of which were culture positive and 70 of which wer culture negative for Campylobacter spp. The pDT1720 fragment (C. jejuni probe) could detect a minimum of 1 x 10(5) C. jejuni cells on filters, whereas the pDT1719 fragment (C. coli probe) was 100-fold less sensitive. The C. jejuni probe demonstrated a sensitivity of 93% with culture positive stool samples, however, 15% of culture negative samples were also recorded as positive using this non-radioactive DNA probe.