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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, September 2004, p. 4344-4348, Vol. 42, No. 9
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.9.4344-4348.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Center for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia,1 Danish Veterinary Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark2
Received 8 October 2003/ Returned for modification 16 February 2004/ Accepted 20 May 2004
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The bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study are shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. All A. pleuropneumoniae strains were grown as previously described (14). The latex agglutination test was used to identify A. pleuropneumoniae field isolates of serotypes 1, 5, and 7 as previously described (11). A. pleuropneumoniae genomic DNA was isolated with the QIAamp DNA mini kit, following the manufacturer's recommendations (QIAGEN, Valencia, Calif.), and plasmid DNA was obtained by using the Qiaprep spin Miniprep kit (QIAGEN). DNA cloning and hybridizations were performed as described previously (19). DNA fragments to be used as probes were amplified by PCR, labeled with digoxigenin by the random primer method (Boehringer Mannheim Corp., Indianapolis, Ind.), and used for DNA hybridizations at 60°C (the cpxD probe), at 59°C (the cpsA probe), or at 49°C (the cps8CD probe) in solutions containing 5x SSC (1x SSC is 0.15 M NaCl plus 0.015 M sodium citrate).
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TABLE 1. Bacterial strains used in this study
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TABLE 2. Plasmids used in this study
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FIG. 1. Map of the CP region of A. pleuropneumoniae and location of the conserved cpx primers and serotype-specific cps primers used for PCR.
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TABLE 3. Primer sequences used for multiplex PCR
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TABLE 4. Cycling times and temperatures for PCR
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FIG. 2. Agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA products amplified from A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 1 to 12. Lane 1, 1-kb ladder; lanes 2, 4, 5, and 7 through 13, amplification of serotypes 1, 3, 4, and 6 through 12 with primers Ap1U1 and Ap1L2; lane 3, amplification of serotype 2 with primers Ap2U1 and Ap2L1; lane 6, amplification of serotype 5 DNA with primers Ap5A and Ap5B. Export primers Ap5C and Ap5D amplified a 715-bp fragment from all serotypes except serotype 4.
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FIG. 3. Agarose gel electrophoresis of A. pleuropneumoniae DNA products. Lane 1, 1-kb ladder; lanes 2 through 13, PCR products from serotypes 1 through 12 amplified with cpxAF, cpxAR, Ap8U1, and Ap8L1. Export primers cpxAF and cpxAR amplified a band of 489 bp from all A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes.
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The conserved cpx8D gene and part of the predicted adjacent serotype-specific cps DNA were identified from ClaI-digested genomic DNA of A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 8 by use of a 480-bp DNA probe to the cpxD gene of serotype 5. A 3.7-kb fragment of serotype 8 genomic DNA hybridized with the probe at 60°C. This fragment was cloned into pBluescript, and the clone was sequenced and designated pJSAp81. DNA sequencing revealed that the pJSAp81 insert contained 843 bp of the cpx8C gene, the entire cpx8D gene, and two open reading frames (ORFs), one complete and one incomplete, that were transcribed in the opposite direction. These two ORFs were putatively designated cps8A and cps8B. A PCR was used to generate DNA fragments of cps8B that were labeled and used as probes to clone additional downstream sequences, which included the remainder of cps8B, complete ORFs designated cps8C and cps8D, and 624 bp of additional sequence.
DNA sequencing revealed that cpsA was 1,143 bp long, cps8B was 429 bp long, cps8C was 1,152 bp long, and cps8D was 999 bp long. The majority of the cps genes from A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 8 did not reveal any substantial homology at the nucleotide level with other sequences in the nucleotide databases at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). The exception was cps8B, which had 82% identity at the nucleotide level with tagD from the teichoic acid biosynthesis locus in Bacillus subtilis and at the amino acid level demonstrated 70% and 68% identity with glycerol 3-phosphate cytidyltransferases from B. subtilis and Listeria monocytogenes, respectively. Of interest is that cps2B from serotype 2 also had a high degree of homology with B. subtilis tagD, and both A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 2 and 8 contain glycerol teichoic acids in their CPs (16). The lack of homology observed at the nucleotide level between the ORFs cps8A, cps8C, and cps8D from A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 8 and sequences in the NCBI databases was not surprising. Little homology appears to exist between some genes that encode glycosyltransferases involved in the biosynthesis of unique CPs (4, 17). A lack of substantial homology at the nucleotide level was also noticed with most genes from the CP regions of A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 2 (unpublished data) and serotype 5 (24). These findings reflect the unique structure of the CP of each serotype.
The use of A. pleuropneumoniae serotype-specific primers Ap1U1 and Ap1L2, Ap2U1 and Ap2L1, Ap5A and Ap5B, and Ap8U1 and Ap8L1 amplified fragments of 1.6, 1.7, and 1.1 kb and 970 bp from only serotypes 1, 2, 5, and 8, respectively (Fig. 2 and 3). Neither the 880-bp or 489-bp cpx fragments nor any of the cps fragments were amplified from controls lacking bacterial DNA or from Histophilus somni ("Histophilus ovis"), Haemophilus influenzae, Haemophilus parasuis, Haemophilus paragallinarum, or Pasteurella multocida (data not shown). The optimum annealing temperature for the serotype 1 PCR was 56°C, whereas the optimum annealing temperature for the serotype 2 and serotype 8 PCRs was 60°C (Table 4).
Field isolates of A. pleuropneumoniae from the United States were assayed by the latex agglutination test and by PCR using serotype 1- and serotype 5-specific primers (Fig. 4). Out of 72 field isolates from pigs with respiratory disease originally identified by phenotypic properties as A. pleuropneumoniae, 58 isolates were typed as A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 1, 5, or 7 by latex agglutination and 14 isolates were other serotypes or nontypeable. All isolates identified as serotype 1 or serotype 5 by latex agglutination were also identified as serotype 1 or 5 by amplification of the cpx band and the 1.6-kb and 1.1-kb cps bands, respectively.
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FIG. 4. Agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA products amplified from A. pleuropneumoniae field isolates by using primers for serotypes 1 and 5. Lane 1, 1-kb ladder; lanes 2 through 6, PCR DNA products from field isolates of A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 5, 7, 5, 1, and 7, respectively, amplified with Ap5C and Ap5D and serotype 5-specific primers Ap5A and Ap5B; lanes 7 through 12, PCR DNA products from field isolates of A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 1, 5, 1, 5, 7, and 1, respectively, amplified with cpxU1 and cpxL1 and serotype 1-specific primers Ap1U1 and Ap1L2.
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As determined by sequencing, the serotype 8 cps locus was located upstream from the cpx8DCBA gene cluster, which encodes proteins involved in CP export. The location of the A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 8-specific DNA upstream from the cpx8D gene was consistent with the location of the CP biosynthesis genes from serotypes 1, 2, and 5 (23, 24) and other bacterial species that express type II/III CP (2, 4, 13, 17, 18). These findings provide further evidence that the genetic organizations of the A. pleuropneumoniae CP locus are similar between serotypes and very similar to the organization of the CP loci of encapsulated H. influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis.
Primers Ap1U1 and Ap1L2, designed specifically for the A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 1 cps region, amplified a 1.6-kb fragment by PCR. However, a longer extension time was required with these primers for amplification of the 1.6-kb fragment than for the amplification of other fragments. An increase in the concentration of the A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 1 cps primers compared to cpx primers was also important for amplification of the 1.6-kb fragment. These modifications were necessary due to preferential amplification of shorter fragments, possible competition for binding sites between the cps and cpx primers, or simply the requirement for more cps primers to amplify a larger fragment (9). A disadvantage of the previous multiplex PCR assay described by Lo et al. (14) was that the cpx5D primers Ap5C and Ap5D did not amplify a product from serotype 4. The absence of the cpx DNA fragment from serotype 4 indicated that areas of nonhomology or low homology may be present even in the conserved export region. Therefore, primers were designed for the cpxA gene, which encodes a portion of an ATP-binding cassette that is essential for the export of CP (3). As expected, these primers amplified a DNA fragment from all serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae.
The successful application of the multiplex PCR assay to type field isolates provided a quick and simple method to identify A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes 1, 2, 5, and 8. The preparation and identification of the isolates was relatively simple, and PCR amplification was completed in less than 4 h. The A. pleuropneumoniae cpx and cps fragments were specific to A. pleuropneumoniae, and DNA was not amplified from other species of the Pasteurellaceae tested. The A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 8-specific primers were successfully used to confirm the identity of 39 serotype 8 field isolates previously determined to be serotype 8. Serological cross-reactivity between serotypes 6 and 8 has been problematic (15), but no cross-reactions were seen with the limited number of serotype 6 isolates tested using the CP-specific multiplex PCR.
In conclusion, the multiplex PCR assay described was effective in detecting A. pleuropneumoniae and identifying serotypes 1, 2, 5, and 8 from purified DNA and bacterial cells. The assay was relatively rapid, easy to perform, and highly sensitive and specific compared to serological assays.
Nucleotide sequence accession number. The sequence of cps8ABC genes has been deposited in the GenBank database under accession number AY356527.
This work was supported by USDA/CSREES NRI grant 98-35204-6811 from the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Experiment Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and by HATCH formula funds to the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.
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