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Significant interest in studying the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) of Campylobacter jejuni has stemmed from its potential role in postinfection paralytic disorders. In this study we present the results of PCR screening of five LOS locus classes (A, B, C, D, and E) for a collection of 116 C. jejuni isolates from chicken meat (n = 76) and sporadic human cases of diarrhea (n = 40). We correlated LOS classes with clonal complexes (CC) assigned by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Finally, we evaluated the invasion potential of a panel of 52 of these C. jejuni isolates for Caco-2 cells. PCR screening showed that 87.1% (101/116) of isolates could be assigned to LOS class A, B, C, D, or E. Concordance between LOS classes and certain MLST CC was revealed. The majority (85.7% [24/28]) of C. jejuni isolates grouped in CC-21 were shown to express LOS locus class C. The invasion potential of C. jejuni isolates possessing …