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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #422536
Research Project: Host-pathogen Interactions and Control Strategies for Bacterial Respiratory Pathogens in Cattle

Location: Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research

Title: Mycoplasma leachii strain PG50 has reduced adherence to epithelial cells compared to Mycoplasma (Mycoplasmopsis) bovis strains

Author
item Nielsen, Daniel
item Hau, Samantha

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Mycoplasma leachii is associated with severe outbreaks of polyarthritis, mastitis, and abortion in dairy cattle and has been detected in Australia, Argentina, and China. However, M. leachii has never been detected in the United States. M. leachii is a member of the so-called “mycoides cluster”, which includes both Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides (the causative agent of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia) and Mycoplasma capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae (the causative agent of contagious caprine pleuropneumonia), which are closely related foreign pathogens and select agents. Like M. leachii, Mycoplasma (Mycoplasmopsis) bovis is also associated with polyarthritis, mastitis, and abortion; however, unlike M. leachii, M. bovis is endemic in the United States. Considering both the clinical implications and relatedness to other foreign diseases of economic importance and biosecurity concerns, we sought to investigate differences in adherence to epithelial cells between M. bovis strains (PG45 and 428E) and M. leachii strain PG50. Briefly, Madin-Darby Bovine Kidney (MDBK) or Bovine Turbinate (BTu) epithelial cells were inoculated at a MOI of 10 to 150 with M. bovis strains PG45 or 428E or M. leachii strain PG50 at 37 °C with 5% CO2 for 2 and 24 hours. After incubating for 2 and 24-hours in EMEM media supplemented with fetal bovine serum, we assessed the ability of the M. bovis and M. leachii strains to adhere by quantitating the CFU/mL of each strain on PPLO agar. Six replicates were performed. An ordinary one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparisons were performed on the log10 transformed counts. We found that M. bovis strains PG45 and 428E adhered at a rate at least 12 times greater than M. leachii strain PG50 at both 2 and 24 hours (p<0.0001). The work suggests that M. bovis may be better at adhering to epithelial cells. Further work is needed to determine if the adherence pattern of M. leachii is representative of other mycoides cluster agents and whether M. leachii adheres more efficiently to other cell types.