scholarly journals Molecular characterisation of Mycoplasma species isolated from the genital tract of Dorper sheep in South Africa

Author(s):  
Habu A. Kalshingi ◽  
Anna-Mari Bosman ◽  
Johan Gouws ◽  
Moritz Van Vuuren

Biochemical and molecular analysis were conducted on 34 strains of Mycoplasma species isolated between 2003 and 2009 from the genital tract of clinically healthy Dorper sheep and sheep with ulcerative vulvitis and balanitis. Earlier publications identified the causative agent as Mycoplasma mycoides mycoides large colony (MmmLC) and Arcanobacterium pyogenes. The aims of the study were to characterise Mycoplasma species isolated from the genital tract of Dorper sheep with polymerase chain reaction assay, cloning and gene sequencing. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) results revealed six predominant Mycoplasma species: Mycoplasma arginini, Mycoplasma bovigenitalium, Arcanobacterium laidlawii, MmmLC, Mycoplasma sp. ovine/caprine serogroup II and M. canadense. Sequencing of the 34 isolates were analysed using phylogenetic methods, and 18 (50%) were identified as M. arginini with 99% – 100% similarity to M. arginini from England and Sweden. Six isolates showed 99% similarity to M. bovigenitalium strains from Turkey and Germany. Two isolates had 99% similarity to an M. sp. ovine/caprine sero group II from the United Kingdom. BLAST for two isolates revealed 99% similarity to Acholeplasma laidlawii from India, another two were 99% similar to MmmLC strain from Sweden, two showed 98% similarity to Mycoplasma sp. Usp 120 from Brazil, and two isolates have a 97% – 99% similarity to M. mm. Jcv1 strain from the United States of America. Finally, one isolate showed similarity of 99% to Mycoplasma canadense strain from Italy. The findings support the hypothesis that ulcerative vulvitis and balanitis of Dorper sheep in South Africa (SA) is a multifactorial disease with involvement of different Mycoplasma species.

Author(s):  
A. Kidanemariam ◽  
J. Gouws ◽  
M. Van Vuuren ◽  
B. Gummow

Ovine ulcerative balanitis and vulvitis in sheep of the Dorper breed has been observed in South Africa since 1979. Its aetiology has not been conclusively resolved, and there is some discrepancy in descriptions of its clinical features. In order to identify the pathogenic microorganism / s that contribute to the occurrence of the disease, the microflora in the genital tracts of both clinically healthy and affected sheep were isolated and compared. Bacteriological examination of materials from affected and unaffected sheep resulted in the isolation of Arcanobacterium pyogenes from 44.2 % and 17.2 % of them respectively. This difference is statistically significant (P < 0.01). Seventy-four per cent of the isolates originated from severe clinical cases. Mycoplasmas were isolated from 49.3 % of 116 clinically normal sheep and 78.2%of 104 affected sheep. There were significant differences in their rates of isolation in clinical groups (P < 0.05). Of all the mycoplasma isolates, Mycoplasma mycoides mycoides large colony variant (MmmLC) was isolated from 61.5 % of clinically diseased sheep while 6.0 % of the isolates were from apparently healthy animals (P < 0.05). The study threw light on the prevalence of mycoplasmas in the genital tract of apparently healthy sheep and, at the same time the identity of the mycoplasma pathogen associated with ulcerative balanitis and vulvitis was revealed. The findings of this investigation therefore confirmed the involvement of mycoplasma, particularly that of MmmLC large colony, in the disease in Dorper sheep in South Africa, and it was concluded that this microorganism is an important pathogen of balanitis and vulvitis in them. The study furthermore demonstrated a probable synergism between A. pyogenes and MmmLC. Finding these 2 organisms together occurred 53.4 times more frequently in the affected sheep than in the unaffected, which emphasises the probable multifactorial nature of the disease. The association between age and the presence of clinical signs was statistically significant. It was found that young sheep were more likely to have lesions than adult sheep. Clinical observations showed that the typical ulceration appears to be confined to the glans penis and lips of the vulva; no ulceration was observed on the shaft of the penis and prepuce or vaginal vestibule. In uncomplicated cases inflammation of the prepuce and vaginal vestibule is not a regular feature of the disease. Therefore the names ulcerative balanitis and vulvitis most accurately describe the nature of the disease in South Africa.


Author(s):  
A. Kidanemariam ◽  
J. Gouws ◽  
M. Van Vuuren ◽  
B. Gummow

The in vitro activities of enrofloxacin, florfenicol, oxytetracycline and spiramycin were determined against field isolates of Mycoplasma mycoides mycoides large colony (MmmLC) by means of the broth microdilution technique. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of these antimicrobial drugs were determined for a representative number of 10 isolates and 1 type strain. The susceptibility of Arcanobacterium pyogenes to enrofloxacin, oxytetracycline and tilmicosin was determined by means of an agar disk diffusion test. The MICs of enrofloxacin, florfenicol, oxytetracycline and spiramycin were within the ranges of 0.125-0.5, 1.0-2.0, 2.0-4.0 and 4.0-8.0 µg / m , respectively. This study has shown that resistance of MmmLC against enrofloxacin, florfenicol, oxytetracycline and spiramycin was negligible. All the field strains of A. pyogenes that were tested were susceptible to enrofloxacin, oxytetracycline and tilmicosin with mean inhibition zones of 30.6, 42.3 and 35.8mm, respectively. Although there is lack of data on in vivo efficacy and in vitro MIC or inhibition zone diameter breakpoints of these antimicrobial drugs for MmmLC, the MIC results indicate that these 4 classes of antimicrobial drugs should be effective in the treatment of ulcerative balanitis and vulvitis in sheep in South Africa.


1999 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmiro R. Nascimento ◽  
Al J. DaMassa ◽  
Richard Yamamoto ◽  
M. Graça F. Nascimento

One-hundred-five (105) clinical isolates of mycoplasma from caprine origin and one isolate from ovine were surveyed for plasmids, which were present in thirty-three (31%) of them. These mycoplasmas originated from 13 herds. Ten of them were symptomatic for mycoplasmal disease (mastitis, polyarthritis, septicemia) and three herds were asymptomatic, i.e., clinically normal. Twenty-eight isolates were Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies mycoides LC (large colony or caprine biotype), four were Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum and one was Mycoplasma cottewii. The isolated plasmids were linearized by EcoRI, EcoRV, EcoRI and EcoRV or BamHI and EcoRV, and were of five sizes (1.1, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, and 1.9 Kbp). Based on restriction enzyme digestion and size of the linearized supercoiled extrachromosomal DNA, five plasmid types were recovered (p1II, p2III, p2V, p3I, and p4IV). The small size of these DNA elements probably exclude replicative forms of DNA virus, which are equal or larger than 8.0 Kbp.


2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 2845-2849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Assunção ◽  
Nuno T. Antunes ◽  
Ruben S. Rosales ◽  
Carlos Poveda ◽  
Jose B. Poveda ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Flow cytometry together with SYBR green I and propidium iodide was used to study the effects of enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, chloramphenicol, oxytetracycline, and tylosin on four mycoplasma species. Inhibition of mycoplasma growth could be detected by as early as 3 h after the start of treatment. The strongest effect was observed with enrofloxacin- and ciprofloxacin-treated cells.


1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose L. Rodriguez ◽  
Richard W. Ermel ◽  
Thomas P. Kenny ◽  
Dale L. Brooks ◽  
Al J. DaMassa

A specific diagnostic method using the polymerase chain reaction, together with restriction endonuclease digestion patterns, was developed for members of the “ Mycoplasma mycoides cluster” that normally occur in the United States (i.e., Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides Large Colony and Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capricolum in addition to “cluster” mycoplasma, bovine serogroup 7, and Mycoplasma putrefaciens. The digestion of “cluster” polymerase chain reaction DNA (1,225 bp) amplification products with restriction enzymes Asel and SspI gave mycoplasma species-specific patterns for all strains of M. mycoides subsp. mycoides Large Colony, M. capricolum subsp. capricolum, and bovine group 7 tested. Moreover, we found a nonspecific amplification product for M. putrefaciens that occurred with the oligonucleotide primers used for the “ M. mycoides cluster” reaction. However, the restriction endonuclease digestion patterns observed with the restriction enzymes AluI, AseI, and SspI for M. putrefaciens were different than the digestion patterns obtained for the other “cluster” mycoplasmas. This report confirms the usefulness of polymerase chain reaction DNA amplification allied with restriction enzyme digestion profile analysis for the rapid and specific identification of mycoplasmas belonging to the “ M. mycoides cluster” and M. putrefaciens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M. Kirkwood

In the first decade of the twentieth century, a rising generation of British colonial administrators profoundly altered British usage of American history in imperial debates. In the process, they influenced both South African history and wider British imperial thought. Prior usage of the Revolution and Early Republic in such debates focused on the United States as a cautionary tale, warning against future ‘lost colonies’. Aided by the publication of F. S. Oliver's Alexander Hamilton (1906), administrators in South Africa used the figures of Hamilton and George Washington, the Federalist Papers, and the drafting of the Constitution as an Anglo-exceptionalist model of (modern) self-government. In doing so they applied the lessons of the Early Republic to South Africa, thereby contributing to the formation of the Union of 1910. They then brought their reconception of the United States, and their belief in the need for ‘imperial federation’, back to the metropole. There they fostered growing diplomatic ties with the US while recasting British political history in-light-of the example of American federation. This process of inter-imperial exchange culminated shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles when the Boer Generals Botha and Smuts were publicly presented as Washington and Hamilton reborn.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-163
Author(s):  
Majid Hajibaba ◽  
Mohsen Sharifi ◽  
Saeid Gorgin

Background: One of the pivotal challenges in nowadays genomic research domain is the fast processing of voluminous data such as the ones engendered by high-throughput Next-Generation Sequencing technologies. On the other hand, BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool), a longestablished and renowned tool in Bioinformatics, has shown to be incredibly slow in this regard. Objective: To improve the performance of BLAST in the processing of voluminous data, we have applied a novel memory-aware technique to BLAST for faster parallel processing of voluminous data. Method: We have used a master-worker model for the processing of voluminous data alongside a memory-aware technique in which the master partitions the whole data in equal chunks, one chunk for each worker, and consequently each worker further splits and formats its allocated data chunk according to the size of its memory. Each worker searches every split data one-by-one through a list of queries. Results: We have chosen a list of queries with different lengths to run insensitive searches in a huge database called UniProtKB/TrEMBL. Our experiments show 20 percent improvement in performance when workers used our proposed memory-aware technique compared to when they were not memory aware. Comparatively, experiments show even higher performance improvement, approximately 50 percent, when we applied our memory-aware technique to mpiBLAST. Conclusion: We have shown that memory-awareness in formatting bulky database, when running BLAST, can improve performance significantly, while preventing unexpected crashes in low-memory environments. Even though distributed computing attempts to mitigate search time by partitioning and distributing database portions, our memory-aware technique alleviates negative effects of page-faults on performance.


Author(s):  
Roberts Cynthia ◽  
Leslie Armijo ◽  
Saori Katada

This chapter evaluates multiple dimensions of the global power shift from the incumbent G5/G7 powers to the rising powers, especially the members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Taking note of alternative conceptualizations of interstate “power,” the text maps the redistribution of economic capabilities from the G7 to the BRICS, most particularly the relative rise of China and decline of Japan, and especially Europe. Given these clear trends in measurable material capabilities, the BRICS have obtained considerable autonomy from outside pressures. Although the BRICS’ economic, financial, and monetary capabilities remain uneven, their relative positions have improved steadily. Via extensive data analysis, the chapter finds that whether one examines China alone or the BRICS as a group, BRICS members have achieved the necessary capabilities to challenge the global economic and financial leadership of the currently dominant powers, perhaps even the United States one day.


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