Mycoplasma arginini: high frequency involvement in goat pneumonia

Authors: REKHA VALSALA, RAJNEESH RANA, ARUN THACHAPPULLY REMESH, VIJENDRA PAL SINGH

Abstract: Mycoplasmas are an important class of bacteria associated with caprine pneumonia. Some of the main species involved are M. mycoides subsp. capri, M. capricolum subsp. capricolum, and M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae. In addition, there are frequent reports of M. arginini involvement. In the present study an attempt was made to see the association of various mollicutes in caprine pneumonia. In total 244 pneumonic goat lung samples collected over a 10-year period (2003-2012) were screened for the isolation and identification of associated mollicutes. The identification was done on the basis of biochemical tests, growth inhibition test, PCR, and sequencing. The most frequent isolates were Acholeplasma (20/244, i.e. 8.19%) and Mycoplasma arginini (13/244, i.e. 5.3%), followed by M. mycoides subsp. capri (1/244) and M. agalactiae (1/244). Seven representative isolates of M. arginini were subjected to partial sequencing of the rpoB gene. On phylogenic analysis, M. arginini isolates were found to be highly identical, exhibiting >98% identity with that of the standard M. arginini (ATCC 23243) strain. The results encourage exploration of the role of M. arginini in goat pneumonia in much detail, due to its high frequency involvement.

Keywords: Mycoplasma arginini, goat, pneumonia, identification

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