OBJECTIVETo evaluate the biological characteristics of Campylobacter jejuni (CJ) cultured on different culture media and their expression abundance of outer membrane proteins (OMPs).

METHODSCJ was cultured on the improved Bull's medium yolk agar, improved Bull's blood agar or improved Bull's agar for 48 h. The biological characteristics of the bacteria, including the colony feature, morphology, motility, biochemistry, and results of indirect fluorescence test were observed and compared. OMP of the cultured CJ was extracted using 0.2 mol/L and glycine-hydrochloride buffered solution (pH 2.2) and identified by SDS-PAGE to compare the expression abundance of the OMPs with molecular weight of 28-31 kD.

RESULTSCJ exhibited typical biological characteristics with larger cell body and more rapid growth on improved Bull's medium yolk agar than those on improved Bull's blood agar and improved Bull's agar. The bacteria grown on improved Bull's medium yolk agar showed also greater expression abundance of the OMPs with molecule mass between 28 kD and 31 kD.

CONCLUSIONImproved Bull's medium yolk agar allows rapid growth of CJ with typical biological characteristics and enhanced expression of the OMPs with molecular weight of 28 -31 kD, and can be widely used in CJ subunit vaccine development, CJ epidemiological survey, CJ food safety examination, and CJ quarantine.