Project description:Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale is a recently described gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium associated with respiratory tract infections in poultry. In order to determine the molecular epidemiology of this bacterium, we characterized 55 O. rhinotracheale isolates from eight countries on four continents by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE), repetitive sequence based-PCR (rep-PCR), and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. MLEE discriminated the O. rhinotracheale isolates into six electrophoretic types (ETs), of which only three ETs were recovered from domesticated poultry. The 16S rRNA gene sequence and rep-PCR analyses confirmed the results obtained by MLEE and indicated limited heterogeneity among isolates of O. rhinotracheale recovered from poultry. Taken together, the results of our analysis demonstrate that the majority of O. rhinotracheale isolates recovered from domesticated poultry throughout the world are represented by a small group of closely related clones and suggest that the bacterium was recently introduced to domesticated poultry from wild bird populations.
Project description:The bacterium Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale is associated with respiratory disease in wild birds and poultry. In this study, the phylogenetic analysis of nine reference strains of O. rhinotracheale belonging to serovars A to I, and eight Mexican isolates belonging to serovar A, was performed. The analysis was extended to include sequences from another 23 strains available in the public domain. The analysis showed that the 40 sequences formed six clusters, I to VI. All eight Mexican field isolates were placed in cluster I. One of the reference strains appears to present genetic diversity not previously recognized and was placed in a new genetic cluster. In conclusion, the phylogenetic analysis of O. rhinotracheale strains, based on the 16S rRNA gene, is a suitable tool for epidemiologic studies.
Project description:Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale is a Gram-negative bacterium associated with respiratory diseases in many avian species, with worldwide distribution, and it causes significant economic loss to the poultry industry. In this study, the isolation and characterization of O. rhinotracheale small-colony variants (SCVs) are described for the first time. O. rhinotracheale isolates (n = 27) were recovered from tracheal samples (n = 321) collected from different avian species with clinical signs of respiratory disease. Of the 27 O. rhinotracheale isolates, 21 (77.8%) showed SCVs in their primary cultures. Five O. rhinotracheale SCV isolates showed high levels of stability and were chosen for further characterization with their wild-type (WT) isolates. Stable O. rhinotracheale SCVs were oxidase negative, while their WT isolates were positive. Growth curves for stable O. rhinotracheale SCVs indicated lower growth rates and longer lag phases than for their WT isolates. Furthermore, it was possible to increase the efficacy of the broth medium in supporting the growth of O. rhinotracheale WT isolates by supplementing it with 5% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 2% IsoVitaleX Enrichment. Antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that O. rhinotracheale SCVs had higher MIC values than their WT isolates. This study suggests that successful antibiotic treatment of respiratory diseases associated with O. rhinotracheale must take into consideration the resistance patterns of O. rhinotracheale SCVs. Intracellular persistence in murine RAW 264.7 macrophages revealed that O. rhinotracheale SCV28 had higher survival rates than its WT isolate. Finally, small-colony variants may be important contributors to the pathogenesis of O. rhinotracheale.
Project description:Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale strain ORT-UMN 88 is a Gram-negative, pleomorphic, rod-shaped bacterium and an etiologic agent of pneumonia and airsacculitis in poultry. It is a member of the family Flavobacteriaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes. O. rhinotracheale strain ORT-UMN 88 was isolated from the pneumonic lung of a turkey in 1995. It was the isolate first used to experimentally reproduce disease in turkeys and has since been the focus of investigations characterizing potential virulence factors of the bacterium. The genome of O. rhinotracheale strain ORT-UMN 88 consists of a circular chromosome of 2,397,867 bp with a total of 2300 protein-coding genes, nine RNA genes, and one noncoding RNA gene. A companion paper in this issue of SIGS reports the non-contiguous finished genome sequence of an additional strain of O. rhinotracheale, isolated in 2006.