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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2003, p. 3372-3375, Vol. 41, No. 7
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.7.3372-3375.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia
Received 3 February 2003/ Returned for modification 23 March 2003/ Accepted 25 April 2003
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A multiplex PCR for the simultaneous detection of B. hyodysenteriae, Lawsonia intracellularis (the agent of porcine proliferative enteropathy), and Salmonella spp. has been described previously (6), but to date, no PCRs amplifying and distinguishing between B. hyodysenteriae and B. pilosicoli in one reaction mixture have been reported. The purpose of the present study was to develop a reliable and robust duplex PCR (D-PCR) system that can be used to detect these two species by using DNA extracted directly from pig feces. To evaluate the test as a diagnostic tool, it was compared with selective anaerobic culture, followed by individual species-specific PCRs conducted on growth harvested from the primary isolation plates.
Control spirochete strains and culture conditions. Control spirochete strains were obtained from the culture collection held at the Reference Centre for Intestinal Spirochetes, Murdoch University, Western Australia, Australia. These included the type strains of B. hyodysenteriae (B78T) and B. pilosicoli (P43/6/78T), which were used to seed feces, as well as another 48 strains of B. hyodysenteriae, 18 strains of B. pilosicoli, 12 strains of B. intermedia, 8 strains of B. innocens, 8 strains of B. murdochii, 2 strains of "B. canis," 1 strain of B. alvinipulli, and 1 strain of B. aalborgi, all of which were used to confirm the specificity of the D-PCR. The strains originated from Australia, Europe, Scandinavia, and North America, and their identities had previously been established by phenotypic testing, PCR assays, and/or multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (13, 16). The strains were propagated at 37°C in Kunkle's prereduced anaerobic broth containing 2% (vol/vol) fetal bovine serum and a 1% (vol/vol) ethanolic cholesterol solution (12). Cells were harvested from a mid-log-phase culture and counted with a hemocytometer.
Fecal samples and culture conditions. A total of 178 fecal samples from grower pigs on seven Australian farms were collected. Fecal samples were kept at 4°C and transported to Murdoch University, where they were processed within 48 h of collection. Farm 1 was a high-health status farm with no history of diarrhea, while the other farms all had a history of diarrhea in growers. Bacteriological swabs were inserted into the feces and streaked onto selective Trypticase soy agar (BBL, Becton Dickinson Microbiology Systems, Cockeysville, Md.) plates containing 5% (vol/vol) defibrinated ovine blood, 400 µg of spectinomycin per ml, and 25 µg each of colistin and vancomycin (Sigma-Aldrich Pty. Ltd., Castle Hill, Australia) per ml. The plates were incubated for 5 to 7 days at 37°C in an anaerobic environment of 94% H2 and 6% CO2 generated with anaerobic Gaspak plus sachets (BBL). The presence of a low, flat, spreading growth of spirochetes on the plate was recorded, as was any hemolysis around the growth. Areas of suspected spirochetal growth were picked off, resuspending in phosphate-buffered saline, and examined under a phase-contrast microscope.
DNA preparation from isolation plates. For the field samples, PCR assays for the two spirochete species were applied to growth harvested from the primary isolation plates. This standard detection method was designated culture-PCR. The tip of a sterile wooden toothpick was used to stab areas of spirochete growth. Where both hemolytic and nonhemolytic growth areas were observed on a plate, both areas were stabbed. The adherent material was resuspended in 50 µl of ultrapure water and boiled for 30 s. A 2.5-µl volume was added to each of the separate B. hyodysenteriae and B. pilosicoli PCR mixtures, which were designed to amplify portions of the NADH oxidase gene and the 16S rDNA, respectively. These PCRs and their optimized conditions have been described previously (2, 15).
DNA extraction from feces. DNA was extracted from fecal samples with the QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (QIAGEN GmbH, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturers instructions. Briefly, 200 mg of feces was resuspended in 2 ml of ASL buffer by vortexing for 1 min, and then 1.6 ml of the lysate was transferred into a new tube. The suspension was boiled for 5 min and centrifuged at 20,000 x g for 1 min, and 1.2 ml of supernatant was transferred to a new tube containing an InhibitEX tablet. The tube was vortexed for 1 min and incubated at room temperature for 1 min. The tube was centrifuged at 20,000 x g for 3 min, and 200 µl of supernatant was transferred to a new tube containing 15 µl of proteinase K. Two hundred microliters of AL buffer was added, and the tube was vortexed before incubation at 70°C for 10 min. Two hundred microliters of absolute ethanol was added to the lysate, and the tube was vortexed. The contents were applied to a spin column and centrifuged at 10,000 x g for 1 min. The column was washed once with 500 µl of AW1 buffer at 10,000 x g for 1 min and once with 500 µl of AW2 buffer at 10,000 x g for 3 min. DNA was eluted from the column at 10,000 x g with 100 µl of AE buffer heated to 70°C. The DNA extracted from all of the field samples was subjected to the D-PCR assay. In addition, DNA extracted from each of the 51 samples collected at farm 4 was also subjected to the two separate species-specific PCR assays, as used on the bacterial growth harvested from the isolation plates.
Primer design for D-PCR. The D-PCR used the same basic targets as the individual PCRs for B. hyodysenteriae and B. pilosicoli. Two primer pairs were used. H1 (5'-ACTAAAGATCCTGATGTATTTG-3') and H2 (5'-CTAATAAACGTCTGCTGC-3') targeted a 354-bp region of the NADH oxidase (nox) gene of B. hyodysenteriae, while P1 (5'-AGAGGAAAGTTTTTTCGCTTC-3') and P2 (5'-GCACCTATGTTAAACGTCCTTG-3') targeted an 823-bp region of the 16S rDNA of B. pilosicoli. Primer H2 (formerly NOX1-R) and P1 (formerly Acoli1) have been described previously (2, 15). Primers H1 and P2 were selected from gene sequences available from the GenBank database and were designed to give specific PCR products of easily distinguishable sizes.
D-PCR. The fecal extraction-D-PCR protocol was undertaken by an operator with no knowledge of the results obtained by culture-PCR. Purified fecal DNA was amplified by a hot-start PCR in a 25-µl total volume with HotStarTaq DNA polymerase (QIAGEN GmbH). Briefly, amplification mixtures consisted of 1x PCR buffer (containing 1.5 mM MgCl2), 0.5 U of HotStarTaq DNA polymerase, 0.2 mM each deoxynucleoside triphosphate (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech AB, Uppsala, Sweden), the first primer pair (H1 and H2) at 0.5 µM, the second primer pair (P1 and P2) at 0.17 µM, and 2.5 µl of chromosomal template DNA. The cycling conditions used involved an initial 15-min HotStarTaq DNA polymerase activation step at 95°C, followed by 31 cycles of denaturation at 94°C for 30 s, annealing at 52°C for 30 s, and primer extension at 72°C for 1 min. The PCR products were subjected to electrophoresis in 1.5% (wt/vol) agarose gels in 1x TAE buffer (40 mM Tris-acetate, 1 mM EDTA), stained with ethidium bromide, and viewed under UV light.
Detection limits of the D-PCR test. The detection limits of the fecal extraction-D-PCR test were determined by seeding fecal samples with different concentrations of spirochetal cells, extracting the DNA from the feces, and then subjecting it to the D-PCR assay. Sterile tubes containing 200 mg of feces from two healthy pigs, which were culture-PCR negative for intestinal spirochetes, were individually resuspended with 200-µl serial 10-fold dilutions of spirochete cells in TE (10 mM Tris-HCl-1 mM EDTA [pH 8.0]) buffer ranging from 1 to 108 cells/ml. The samples tested contained B. hyodysenteriae B78T, B. pilosicoli P43/6/78T, or equal numbers of cells of both strains. A tube consisting of 100 µl of TE buffer was included as a negative control. The fecal suspensions were used for column extraction of chromosomal DNA and D-PCR.
For both series of seeded samples and for both components of the D-PCR assay, a PCR product from samples containing 103 cells/g was faintly visible and a PCR product from samples containing 104 cells/g was clearly visible. The practical limits of detection therefore were between 103 and 104 cells/g of feces for both species. The same limits of detection applied when both species were present individually, as well as when they were present together in equal numbers. These detection limits were comparable to those routinely achieved by culture-PCR (1), and these, in turn, are better than those achieved by culture alone (1).
Specificity of the D-PCR assay. The specificity of the D-PCR assay for the two species was assessed by applying it to chromosomal DNAs extracted from 100 different intestinal spirochete strains representing seven species and one proposed species ("B. canis") of the genus Brachyspira. All 49 strains of B. hyodysenteriae and 19 strains of B. pilosicoli gave specific amplification of the correct predicted product size, while no products were generated from the other spirochete strains. Examples of the products generated are shown in Fig. 1.
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Field samples. The results of a comparison of culture-PCR and fecal extraction-D-PCR for the 178 field samples are shown in Table 1. Both methods classified all of the samples from three of the farms as negative for the pathogenic intestinal spirochetes, samples from two farms as containing both B. hyodysenteriae and B. pilosicoli, and samples from two farms as just containing B. hyodysenteriae. These complementary results provide further evidence that the D-PCR assay has a specificity similar to that of culture-PCR.
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Sequencing of the D-PCR amplicons generated from 18 of the field samples further supported the specificity of the D-PCR. All 14 B. hyodysenteriae products had the same sequence over 354 bp of the nox gene as did type strain B78T. The seven B. pilosicoli products had between 99.3% (703 bp) and 99.7% (706 bp) sequence homology with the corresponding 708 bp of the 16S rDNA sequence of type strain P43/6/78T. These 21 sequences included those from three fecal samples that simultaneously generated products for both B. pilosicoli and B. hyodysenteriae, two fecal samples that produced a B. pilosicoli product in D-PCR but were negative by culture-PCR, and one fecal sample that produced a product for B. hyodysenteriae in the D-PCR assay but was negative by culture-PCR.
Small numbers of spirochete-like bacteria were observed by phase-contrast microscopy in the primary growth from nine fecal samples, i.e., seven from farm 2 and two from farm 3. These could not be isolated in pure culture, and the samples were negative in the PCRs used on the growth. The D-PCR assays of the corresponding fecal samples were also negative. It is assumed that these organisms were nonpathogenic intestinal spirochete species such as B. innocens.
The overall objective of this study was achieved. The D-PCR method was specific when tested with a large number of intestinal spirochete strains, and the sequences of the products generated from field samples were identical to (B. hyodysenteriae) or very similar to (B. pilosicoli) the sequences of the respective type strains of the species, again confirming the specificity of the assay. Compared to culture-PCR, the fecal extraction-D-PCR method detected additional samples that contained B. hyodysenteriae and/or B. pilosicoli on farms where these organisms were known to be present. The fecal extraction-D-PCR method also had the major advantage that results could be obtained for both spirochete species within 5 h of specimen receipt. If there was a need to obtain isolates for strain typing or testing of antimicrobial sensitivities, positive samples could then be cultured. In comparison, culture-PCR takes 3 to 5 days for the culture component and then several hours to perform both PCR tests. The costs of laboratory consumables for the two techniques are comparable, so the major financial saving of the fecal extraction-D-PCR method results from the reduced handling times and labor components.
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