Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis: microbiology, biochemical properties, pathogenesis and molecular studies of virulence

Abstract

-Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the etiological agent of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA), a common disease in small ruminant populations throughout the world. Once established, this disease is difficult to eradicate because drug therapy is not effective and because the clinical detection of infected animals is of limited efficiency. We reviewed the microbiological, biochemical and taxonomic features of C. pseudotuberculosis, general aspects of infection, the main virulence determinants and currently available commercial vaccines. We also examined the current molecular strategies for the study of virulence in C. pseudotuberculosis, including the latest research on the identification of novel virulence factors and genes, which will help us to better understand the biology of this microorganism. This knowledge may also contribute to the development of improved CLA vaccines, including subunit and DNA-based types, as well as to improve the diagnosis, treatment and control of this disease.

Molecular genotyping of multinational ovine and caprineCorynebacterium pseudotuberculosisisolates using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

“…We previously reported difficulties associated with the characterization of C. pseudotuberculosis with respect to biochemical variation, as encountered by ourselves and other groups [10,13,35]. Significantly, in the current study, culturing of C. pseudotuberculosis directly from cryogenically stored stocks was shown to result, on occasion, in an absent or weak urease reaction (unpublished observation), which in turn resulted in misdiagnosis of the organism as C. jeikeium (based on the API Coryne test).…”

“…In a recent review, the lack of efficient molecular tools for the genetic study of C. pseudotuberculosis and the requirement to develop molecular strategies to tackle this infection was highlighted [13]. Extensive variability in the cultural and biochemical characteristics of C. pseudotuberculosis has previously been reported [21,35], and investigation of genotypic variation has been conducted using restriction endonuclease analysis (REA) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) [39].…”

Citologia aspirativa no diagnóstico da linfadenite em ovinos

“…A linfadenite caseosa ϐigura dentre as afecções mais frequentes na criação de pequenos ruminantes no Brasil (Dorella et al 2006, Abreu et al 2008, Carvalho et al 2008. A doença se caracteriza pela formação de abscessos em linfonodos, causada predominantemente por Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Dorella et al 2006).…”

“…A doença se caracteriza pela formação de abscessos em linfonodos, causada predominantemente por Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis (Dorella et al 2006).…”

“…Diferentes métodos diagnósticos têm sido utilizados na linfadenite caseosa em pequenos ruminantes que incluem testes sorológicos (soroneutralização, imunodifusão em gel de ágar, hemaglutinação indireta, fixação de complemento, ELISA), de imunidade mediada por célu-las (testes alérgicos) e, recentemente, técnicas de biologia molecular, como a reação em cadeia pela polimerase [PCR] (Dorella et al 2006, Pacheco et al 2007. No entanto, a dificuldade de utilização dos testes sorológicos visando o descarte individual dos animais soropositivos, ou mesmo a ocorrência de reações inespecíficas, tem limitado o uso destes testes na rotina diagnóstica.…”