Virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Campylobacter isolates recovered from consecutively reused broiler litter

is a leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States due to consumption of contaminated or mishandled food products, often associated with chicken meat. is common in the microbiota of avian and mammalian gut; however, acquisition of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors (VFs) may result in strains that pose significant threat to public health. Although there are studies investigating the genetic diversity of strains isolated from post-harvest chicken samples, there are limited data on the genome characteristics of isolates recovered from preharvest broiler production. Here, we show that and differ in their carriage of antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors may also differ in their ability to persist in litter during consecutive grow-out of broiler flocks. We found that presence/absence of virulence factors needed for evasion of host defense mechanisms and gut colonization played an integral role in differentiating strains.