Molecular Characterization of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis Isolated over a 15-Year Period in Switzerland

Abstract

Corynebacteriumpseudotuberculosis biovar Ovis is the etiological agent of the contagious and chronic disease caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) in sheep and goats. The economic impact of CLA in Switzerland remains largely unknown, and the transmission modalities, as well as the genetic diversity of circulating strains, are poorly understood. This work presents further characterization data for 215 C. pseudotuberculosis isolates from sheep, goats and a dromedary originating from Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, collected over a 15-year period. The isolates were classified into the two biovars Ovis and Equi, analyzed for the presence of the diphtheria-like toxin gene and characterized using MLSA. All sheep and goat isolates were classified as C. pseudotuberculosis biovar Ovis. The isolate from a dromedary was classified as biovar Equi. No isolates harboring the diphtheria-like toxin gene were detected. Phylogenetic analysis of the concatenated sequences of four genes revealed the existence of 24 clusters. There was no correlation between MLSA sequence types, year of isolation and the geographical origin of the isolates. These findings confirm the presence of several MLSA sequence types in the study area and over a 15-year period. Moreover, no sheep- and goat-specific MLSA sequence types were found.

Bacteriological, molecular and histopathological evaluation of four vaccines’ protective role against caseous lymphadenitis in sheep

“…These findings backed up previous studies by exotoxin, which found that the PLD produces ceramide phosphate, which is converted to ceramide by the PLC produced by R. equi, causing lipid bilayer rupture and RBC lysis in terms of biological activity (Williamson 2001 andSelim et al 2012). Molecular identification of C. pseudotuberculosis isolates which were recovered from vaccinated and non-vaccinated sheep were achieved successfully, this result was coincided with that reported by Mancini et al (2012) and Schlicher et al (2021).…”

Ovine and Caprine Strains of Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis on Czech Farms—A Comparative Study

“…C. pseudotuberculosis is divided into two biovars-biovar ovis and biovar equi-based on the differences in the results of the nitrate reduction test [3]. Although these biovars do not show strict host adaptation, the results of some studies and primarily sequencing data deposited at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) show that the biovar ovis is mainly isolated from infections in small ruminants and the biovar equi from horses and large ruminants, e.g., dairy cattle [4,5].…”

Corynebacteria of the diphtheriae Species Complex in Companion Animals: Clinical and Microbiological Characterization of 64 Cases from France

“… C. pseudotuberculosis causes caseous lymphadenitis in small ruminants and edematous skin disease in buffaloes. Although this species is considered potentially toxigenic, only isolates from buffaloes in Egypt were reported to produce diphtheria toxin, and there is no evidence for toxigenicity of recent isolates from caseous lymphadenitis ( 6 – 9 ). Two novel species, C. belfantii and C. rouxii , were recently described ( 10 , 11 ).…”