Phenotypic and molecular characterization of recent and archived Erysipelothrix spp. isolated from Brazilian swine

Abstract

One hundred fifty-one Erysipelothrix spp. isolates from Brazilian swine were characterized by serotyping, determination of antimicrobial susceptibility, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Among all isolates, 139 were classified in 18 different serotypes and serotype 2b was the most frequent. The susceptibility profiles of the isolates were very similar among each other, which did not permit subtyping Erysipelothrix spp. isolates by the antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Despite the fact that AFLP and PFGE provided the same discriminatory index (0.98), PFGE was more discriminatory than AFLP, given the types of groups it generates. Regardless the technique employed (AFLP or PFGE), no discrimination between recent and historical isolates was established, neither a fixed epidemiologic pattern for their grouping was observed. Nevertheless, AFLP could be an interesting alternative for discriminating the Erysipelothrix species, while PFGE could be an indication for discerning this bacterium according to the serotypes.

Characterization of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae isolated from Brazilian Tayassu pecari

“…All five colonies presented identical susceptibility profiles, and their sensitivity as well as resistance to the drugs tested were compliant with other reports (Fidalgo et al 2002;Coutinho et al 2011).…”

“…As in other studies (Eriksson et al 2009;Coutinho et al 2011), the present investigation showed that the PFGE technique is a suitable method for E. rhusiopathiae genotyping. In the present study, an interesting and unpublished result was observed, three different genotypes were found among the five colonies collected from the same clinical specimen, ratifying the high discriminatory power of the PFGE technique and demonstrating, for the first time, the occurrence of infection by E. rhusiopathiae with different genotypes.…”

“…In the present study, an interesting and unpublished result was observed, three different genotypes were found among the five colonies collected from the same clinical specimen, ratifying the high discriminatory power of the PFGE technique and demonstrating, for the first time, the occurrence of infection by E. rhusiopathiae with different genotypes. Coutinho et al (2011), characterized E. rhusiopathiae strains isolated from swine by PFGE and AFLP, but in both techniques the isolates from the same animal specimen were always allocated to the same genetic profile. Possibly, E. rhusiopathiae infects animals not only with clonal populations, as demonstrated here, but as this is the first report of such occurrence and there were few studies (Coutinho et al 2011) that sought to examine it, further investigations, involving collection of more than one colony from the same positive specimen, should be conducted, so that definitive conclusions could be drawn.…”

Erysipelothrix Spp.: Past, Present, and Future Directions in Vaccine Research

“…However, this is not absolute and certain serovars can be associated with more than one species (5,29). Serotyping studies have indicated that, with some geographic differences, serovars 1a, 1b, and 2 are most widely distributed in pigs and likely of greatest importance overall (24,(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36) (Figure 2). Serotyping is not performed routinely, and serovars are not species specific or phylogenetically informative (37).…”

Characterization and Identification of a Novel Candidate Vaccine Protein through Systematic Analysis of Extracellular Proteins of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae

“…Live attenuated vaccines and bacterins have long been used successfully to control swine erysipelas (4). However, the high incidence of swine erysipelas is still a concern for the pork industry worldwide (5)(6)(7)(8); therefore, the development of new and more effective vaccines is desired.…”