Rapid and accurate typing of Dichelobacter nodosus using PCR amplification and reverse dot-blot hybridisation

Genomic heterogeneity of Dichelobacter nodosus within and between UK sheep flocks and between age groups within a flock

Background

Footrot and interdigital dermatitis are endemic infectious diseases in all sheep farming regions, impairing welfare and production. The development of efficacious vaccines against the primary causative pathogen has been hampered by the extensive antigenic diversity of Dichelobacter nodosus. Understanding the heterogeneity of the pathogen within and between flocks is essential if the feasibility of bespoke vaccine production is to be assessed for use in the U.K.

Results

In this study 56 ewe and lamb isolates from 9 flocks were compared by D. nodosus serogroup and Multi Locus Sequence Type which provides significantly enhanced discriminatory power for molecular epidemiology. Serogroup heterogeneity between flocks ranged from two to five unique serogroups per flock. Three flocks contained isolates of two serogroups, two flocks contained isolates of three serogroups and one flock included isolates of five serogroups. Analysis of 25 isolates from one flock with high prevalence of lameness, identified that serogroup and sequence type was significantly correlated with age. Significantly higher proportion of lambs were infected with serogroup B (principally ST85) as opposed to serogroup H (principally ST86), which predominated amongst adult sheep.

Conclusions

Genomic heterogeneity of the pathogen was significantly lower within flock compared to heterogenicity observed between flocks. Furthermore, this study indicates that within a flock, the host-pathogen dynamics and susceptibility to particular D. nodosus strains may be age dependent.

The Applied Development of a Tiered Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) Scheme for Dichelobacter nodosus

Dichelobacter nodosus (D. nodosus) is the causative pathogen of ovine footrot, a disease that has a significant welfare and financial impact on the global sheep industry. Previous studies into the phylogenetics of D. nodosus have focused on Australia and Scandinavia, meaning the current diversity in the United Kingdom (U.K.) population and its relationship globally, is poorly understood. Numerous epidemiological methods are available for bacterial typing; however, few account for whole genome diversity or provide the opportunity for future application of new computational techniques. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) measures nucleotide variations within several loci with slow accumulation of variation to enable the designation of allele numbers to determine a sequence type. The usage of whole genome sequence data enables the application of MLST, but also core and whole genome MLST for higher levels of strain discrimination with a negligible increase in experimental cost. An MLST database was developed alongside a seven loci scheme using publically available whole genome data from the sequence read archive. Sequence type designation and strain discrimination was compared to previously published data to ensure reproducibility. Multiple D. nodosus isolates from U.K. farms were directly compared to populations from other countries. The U.K. isolates define new clades within the global population of D. nodosus and predominantly consist of serogroups A, B and H, however serogroups C, D, E, and I were also found. The scheme is publically available at https://pubmlst.org/dnodosus/.

Variation in Fusobacterium necrophorum strains present on the hooves of footrot infected sheep, goats and cattle

Footrot is a disease of sheep, goats and cattle that causes losses in production and raises welfare issues world-wide. The disease is characterised by destruction of the hard keratin of the hoof leading to lameness, and both Dichelobacter nodosus (D. nodosus) and Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) are thought to be involved in the etiology of this disease. While a lot is known about the genetic diversity of D. nodosus, very little is known about variation in F. necrophorum, especially as regards its role in footrot. We used PCR in conjunction with SSCP and sequencing to analyse swabs collected from the hooves of sheep, goats and cattle with symptomatic footrot for the presence of a portion of the lktA gene of F. necrophorum. Out of 29 samples tested, 27 had amplifiable lktA sequences and within these we found four different variants of the lktA gene. Eight of the nine samples from cattle were positive for a variant that matched the type strain of F. necrophorum subsp. necrophorum. Of the 14 samples from sheep, 13 were positive for lktA, but none of theses matched the known type strains, and 11/13 of the lktA sequences were identical. This sequence was distinct to those of the type strains. None of the footrot infections carried multiple variants of lktA, suggesting that only one strain of F. necrophorum is present in each case. This is in contrast to D. nodosus in footrot infections, which have been demonstrated to have up to seven strains infecting a single hoof.

Current understanding of the aetiology and laboratory diagnosis of footrot

Footrot is a highly contagious disease of the feet of ruminants caused by the synergistic action of certain bacterial species of which Dichelobacter nodosus (D. nodosus) is the main transmitting agent. The infection is specific to sheep and goats, although it has also been reported in cattle, horses, pigs, deer and mouflon. The antigenic diversity of D. nodosus is due to variations in the DNA sequence of its fimbrial subunit gene (fimA) and provides the basis for classification of the organism into at least 10 major serogroups (A-I and M), the distribution of which varies with different geographical locations. Host immune response to vaccination is serogroup specific. There are three different clinical forms of disease caused by virulent, intermediate and benign strains of D. nodosus, respectively. In order to facilitate rapid and reliable clinical diagnosis, virulence determination, strain differentiation and serogroup identification for effective control measures, immunological tests, DNA probes and PCR based techniques have been introduced. This review summarises the current understanding of the mechanisms of antigenic diversity of D. nodosus as well as advances made in its strain differentiation and diagnosis.

Improved diagnosis of virulent ovine footrot using the intA gene

Footrot is a mixed bacterial infection of the hooves of sheep. The gram-negative anaerobic bacterium Dichelobacter nodosus is the principal causative agent, with different strains causing diseases of different severity, ranging from benign to virulent. In Australia, in the state of New South Wales (NSW), only virulent footrot is subject to regulatory action, including quarantine. However, it is often difficult to distinguish benign footrot from virulent footrot in the initial stages of infection, or under adverse climatic conditions. The gelatin gel test, which measures the thermostability of secreted bacterial proteases, is the laboratory test most widely used in Australia to aid in the differential diagnosis of footrot. The proteases of virulent strains are, in general, more thermostable than the proteases of benign strains. However, there are some false positives in the gelatin gel test, which may lead to unnecessary quarantine procedures. We used Southern blot analysis on 595 isolates of D. nodosus from 124 farms on which sheep had benign or virulent footrot to test for the presence of the intA gene. We found that for D. nodosus strains which are stable in the gelatin gel test, there is a high correlation between the presence of the intA gene and the ability of the strain to cause virulent footrot. We also developed a PCR-based assay for the rapid detection of intA, which can be used to test DNA extracted from colonies grown on plates, or DNA extracted from cotton swabs of culture plates.

Molecular detection and characterization of Dichelobacter nodosus in ovine footrot in India

Dichelobacter nodosus was detected in three clinical cases of ovine footrot in Kashmir, India. The detection was done by PCR in three clinical specimens directly, without isolating the organism, using species-specific 16S rDNA primers. Positive results were indicated by amplification of a 783 bp product. All the three samples were subjected to serogrouping by multiplex PCR using group (A-I) specific primers. All the three samples revealed the presence of serogroup B of D. nodosus by yielding a single band of 283 bps.

Serogroup specific single and multiplex PCR with pre-enrichment culture and immuno-magnetic bead capture for identifying strains of D. nodosus in sheep with footrot prior to vaccination

The identification of Dichelobacter nodosus present in a flock is a prerequisite to specific (autogenous) vaccination. Current methods of identification of the serogroup present in a population requires that the organisms be isolated, identified visually in mixed culture on streak plates, subcultured to purify and subjected to antigenic analysis. This process takes at least 3 to 4 weeks. This study describes the development of a simple and rapid serogroup specific PCR test for D. nodosus. A common forward primer was designed from the conserved amino-terminal region of the fimbrial gene (fimA) and 9 (A-I) serogroup specific reverse primers were designed from the carboxy-terminal regions of fimA of the different serogroups. To verify the specificity within D. nodosus, each specific primer pair was tested in PCR against 18 serogroups/serotypes (prototypes) and found to be specific for all the serotypes within the homologous serogroups. Eighty four other bacterial strains, either commonly occurring in sheep or found in the environment of sheep, and including organisms related taxonomically to D. nodosus, were used to check the specificity of these assays. They were found to be specific for D. nodosus as none of the 84 bacterial stains reacted. These primers detected 1 pg of purified chromosomal DNA, or 50-100 cells of D. nodosus in crude lysates. Sensitivity was markedly improved when an immuno-magnetic capture was employed. Single tube multiplex PCRs were tested with different combinations of common forward primer and groups of 3, 4 or 5 reverse primers chosen so that amplicon size for each reaction product was different. These were able to amplify DNA of isolates from all the relevant serogroups included in the reactions. These tests were evaluated with samples taken directly from lesions of footrot, either directly or preceded by DNA purification, immuno-magnetic capture, enrichment broth culture and culture on hoof agar media. Of these methods only PCR on mixed colonies from 4-day-old cultures on 4% hoof agar media yielded results of practical value.