Molecular characterisation of the Australian and New Zealand livestock Chlamydia pecorum strains confirms novel but clonal ST23 in association with ovine foetal loss

Abstract

Chlamydia pecorum is a veterinary pathogen associated with abortions and perinatal mortality in sheep. Recent studies investigating foetal and perinatal lamb mortality in sheep from Australia and New Zealand identified C. pecorum clonal sequence type (ST)23 strains in aborted and stillborn lambs. Presently, there is limited genotypic information on C. pecorum strains associated with reproductive disease, although whole genome sequencing (WGS) of one abortigenic ST23 C. pecorum strain identified unique features, including a deletion in the CDS1 locus of the chlamydial plasmid. We applied WGS on two ST23 strains detected in aborted and stillborn lambs from Australia and used phylogenetic and comparative analyses to compare these to the other available C. pecorum genomes. To re-evaluate the genetic diversity of contemporary strains, we applied C. pecorum genotyping, and chlamydial plasmid sequencing to a range of C. pecorum positive samples and isolates from ewes, aborted foetuses and stillborn lambs, cattle and a goat from diverse geographical regions across Australia and New Zealand.The two new C. pecorum genomes are nearly identical to the genome of the Australian abortigenic strain including the unique deletion in the chlamydial plasmid. Genotyping revealed that these novel C. pecorum ST23 strains are widespread and associated with sheep abortions on Australian and New Zealand farms. In addition, a goat C. pecorum strain (denoted ST 304) from New Zealand was also characterised. This study expands the C. pecorum genome catalogue and describes a comprehensive molecular characterisation of the novel livestock ST23 strains associated with foetal and lamb mortality.

Keywords: Abortion; Chlamydia pecorum; Genomics; Molecular epidemiology; ST23; Sheep.