Genetic diversity of Gallibacterium anatis isolates from different chicken flocks

J Clin Microbiol. 2003 Jun;41(6):2737-40. doi: 10.1128/JCM.41.6.2737-2740.2003.

Abstract

Amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs) were used to characterize the genotypic diversity of a total of 114 Gallibacterium anatis isolates originating from a reference collection representing 15 biovars from four countries and isolates obtained from tracheal and cloacal swab samples of chickens from an organic, egg-producing flock and a layer parent flock. A subset of strains was also characterized by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and biotyping. The organic flock isolates were characterized by more than 94% genetic similarity, indicating that only a single clone was apparent in the flock. The layer parent flock isolates were grouped into two subclusters, each with similarity above 90%. One subcluster contained only tracheal isolates, while the other primarily included cloacal isolates. In conclusion, we show that AFLP analysis enables fingerprinting of G. anatis, which seems to have a clonal population structure within natural populations. There was further evidence of clonal lineages, which may have adapted to different sites within the same animal.

Publication types

  • Address
  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Typing Techniques
  • Chickens / classification
  • Chickens / microbiology*
  • Cloaca / microbiology
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / epidemiology
  • Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / microbiology
  • Pasteurellaceae / classification*
  • Pasteurellaceae / genetics
  • Pasteurellaceae / isolation & purification
  • Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
  • Poultry Diseases / microbiology
  • Trachea / microbiology