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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Infectious Bacterial Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #87934
Title: MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF TUBERCULOSIS IN WILD, WHITE-TAILED DEER IN MICHIGAN AND ELEPHANTS

Author
item WHIPPLE, DIANA
item MEYER, ROBERT - USDA/APHIS/VS, FT COLLINS
item BERRY, DALE - MI DEPT PUBLIC HEALTH
item JARNAGIN, JERALD - USDA/APHIS/VS/NVSL
item PAYEUR, JANET - USDA/APHIS/VS/NVSL

Submitted to: United States Animal Health Association Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/24/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was used to study the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium bovis infection in a population of white-tailed deer in Michigan. There were 77 M. bovis isolates from white-tailed deer and one isolate each from a coyote, a cow, and an elk from Michigan, and a heifer from Wisconsin. DNA from each isolate was digested with restriction enzymes PvuII and AluI and hybridized with the following probes: 1) IS6110 123-bp sequence, which hybridizes downstream from the PvuII site; 2) IS6110 445-bp sequence, which spans the PvuII site; and 3) the direct repeat sequence (DR). Results of RFLP analysis using the diffent probes were combined to identify 10 RFLP types among the isolates analyzed. Differences in patterns that resulted in classificaiton of different RFLP types were generally minor. Most isolates from the deer had a single copy of IS6110 and had the same RFLP type as the isolates from the ecoyote, cow, and heifer. The RFLP patterns for the elk isolate did not match any of the other isolates included in this study. RFLP analysis was also used to study Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from eight elephants. DNA was digested with PvuII and hybridized with the IS6110 123- obe according to the internationally standardized method. Two distinct clusters were observed among the isolates from the elephants. Isolates from four elephants from California formed one cluster, while isolates from four elephants associated with a facility in Illinois formed the second cluster. Results of these studies show the RFLP anlaysis is a tool that can be used to aid in the investigation of outbreaks of tuberculosis in animals.