Molecular Epidemiological Analysis of Mycoplasma bovis Isolates from the United Kingdom Shows Two Genetically Distinct Clusters

Abstract

Mycoplasma bovis is an important veterinary pathogen causing pneumonia, arthritis, and mastitis in infected cattle. We investigated the genetic diversity of 53 isolates collected in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2002 with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis. In addition, the influence of variable surface protein (Vsp) profiles on the profiles generated with molecular typing techniques was studied. Both AFLP and RAPD separated the isolates into two distinct groups, but PFGE showed less congruence with the other techniques. There was no clear relationship between the geographic origin or year of isolation of the isolates and the profiles produced. No correlation between Vsp profiles and any of the molecular typing techniques was observed. We propose that RAPD and AFLP provide valuable tools for molecular typing of M. bovis.

Prevalence of pathogens from Mollicutes class in cattle affected by respiratory diseases and molecular characteristics of Mycoplasma bovis field strains

“…The mutations in the uvrC gene were detected among the strains from RAPD group II and the strains originating from different regions of Poland, despite the fact that this group seemed to be more homogeneous. This finding is consistent with the data presented in Europe, where the lack of correlation between geographical origins of strains was also observed (17,24). It is possible to speculate that the two distinct groups identified by RAPD in this study represent two clonal lines of origin.…”

Molecular and Antigenic Characterization of aMycoplasma BovisStrain Causing an Outbreak of Infectious Keratoconjunctivitis

“…However, the patterns obtained in this study did not coincide with any of the RAPD profiles previously described by McAuliffe and coworkers 26 when testing UK strains (data not shown).…”

“…The 39 M. bovis Sar1 isolates showed an invariable Hum4 RAPD PCR 26 profile very similar to that of M. bovis PG45 T but different from that of M. agalactiae 72DX. However, patterns obtained did not coincide with any of the RAPD profiles previously described by McAuliffe and coworkers.…”

“…However, patterns obtained did not coincide with any of the RAPD profiles previously described by McAuliffe and coworkers. 26 Therefore, application of the Hum4 RAPD PCR method has proven valuable when dealing with local strains, but it failed when strains more geographically distant were independently compared in two laboratories. We cannot exclude that slight differences in the PCR profiles or in the thermocylers used have resulted in different RAPD profiles.…”

“…26 DNA sequencing and sequence analysis. An ABI PRISM Big Dye Terminator Cycle Sequencing Ready Reaction Kit d was used for direct cycle sequencing of the PCR products obtained with the primer sets A and B, according to the manufacturer's protocol.…”