Relationships among Pasteurellaceae isolated from free ranging chickens and their animal contacts as determined by quantitative phenotyping, ribotyping and REA-typing

One hundred and forty-three Pasteurella spp. strains and 10 unclassified strains obtained from free ranging poultry, dogs and cats were investigated by extended phenotypic characterization. One hundred and forty-nine of these strains were selected for further studies using ribotyping and REA-typing to evaluate the role of dogs and cats in Pasteurella multocida transmission. Seven and six type strains were included for comparison in phenotyping and genotyping, respectively. Eleven clusters and six unclustered strains were revealed by phenotyping. Ribotyping outlined 12 clusters and six unclustered strains. A correlation between clusters obtained by phenotyping and ribotyping was demonstrated which indicated that a genetic basis exists for clusters outlined by quantitative evaluation of phenotypic data. Similarities and differences in hosts, phenotype, ribotype, and zone of isolation were demonstrated among Pasteurella strains investigated. Isolates of P. multocida from ducks were shown to be clonal by both phenotyping and ribotyping. These strains were identical to one of the chickens strains. REA-typing, however, showed that the chicken strain was different underlining that exchange of clones of P. multocida between avian species rarely happens under village conditions. Management practise in the villages suggest the potential for exchange of P. multocida between poultry and animals kept in contact. The present findings, however, did not indicate that clones of P. multocida are widely exchanged between poultry and other animal species, even though close contact exists. In the present investigation exchange of clones of P. multocida was only demonstrated among animals belonging to the same species. Caution is drawn to the use of ribotyping as the sole method for epidemiological typing and tracing of P. multocida. The present results also underline the importance of proper phenotyping in the identification of P. multocida and related species.     

Anaplasma phagocytophilum in Danish sheep: confirmation by DNA sequencing

Background

The presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, an Ixodes ricinus transmitted bacterium, was investigated in two flocks of Danish grazing lambs. Direct PCR detection was performed on DNA extracted from blood and serum with subsequent confirmation by DNA sequencing.

Methods

31 samples obtained from clinically normal lambs in 2000 from Fussingø, Jutland and 12 samples from ten lambs and two ewes from a clinical outbreak at Feddet, Zealand in 2006 were included in the study. Some of the animals from Feddet had shown clinical signs of polyarthritis and general unthriftiness prior to sampling. DNA extraction was optimized from blood and serum and detection achieved by a 16S rRNA targeted PCR with verification of the product by DNA sequencing.

Results

Five DNA extracts were found positive by PCR, including two samples from 2000 and three from 2006. For both series of samples the product was verified as A. phagocytophilum by DNA sequencing.

Conclusions

A. phagocytophilum was detected by molecular methods for the first time in Danish grazing lambs during the two seasons investigated (2000 and 2006).     

Genetic improvement of farmed tilapias: Composition and genetic parameters of a synthetic base population of Oreochromis niloticus for selective breeding

The present study is based on data recorded from fish of the third generation of the GIFT project (Genetic Improvement of Farmed Tilapias). The objective of the study was to compose a synthetic base population of Nile tilapia for further selective breeding, and to estimate phenotypic and genetic parameters in that population. The base population was formed by choosing parent stock among the best performing animals within the best strain combinations resulting from a full diallel cross design (8 × 8) involving four African wild strains and four Asian farmed strains (64 strain combination cells altogether). The grandparent ancestors of the base population were mainly representing the three strains originating from Egypt, Kenya and Thailand (20.2, 27.3 and 19.6%, respectively). The proportion of ancestors from the Senegal strain was medium (12.2%) whereas the proportion of ancestors from Ghana, Israel, Singapore and Taiwan strains was low (3 to 8%) and mainly due to a restriction that all parent strains should be represented in the synthetic base. Statistical analyses using a mixed animal model were carried out on records from 13,570 individually tagged and surviving progeny of 50 sires and 123 dams. The growth performance of the fish was tested in seven diverse environments. The test environments covered a wide range of tilapia farming systems, namely, earthen ponds fertilized with inorganic fertilizer and organic manure or on-farm agricultural residues, cage culture, and test stations located in different agro-climatic regions. The model fitted included the fixed effect of test environment and sex and the linear and quadratic covariate of age at stocking. The random terms were the additive genetic effect of individual fish and the additional effects common to full-sib groups. The estimates of heritability for body weight at harvest in different test environments ranged from moderate to high (0.12 to 0.56) and the estimate across test environments was 0.15. The variances due to other effects common to full-sib families were significant, accounting for 8 to 16% of total variation in body weight. The genetic correlations among body weights recorded in similar environments were high (mostly > 0.80, i.e. among the earthen ponds in experimental locations). By contrast, the genetic correlations between harvest weight in earthen pond and in cage environments were more variable (0.36-0.82). Overall, the results suggested that the genotype by environment interactions were of limited importance, at least for the target pond farming systems in the Philippines. It was concluded that as the additive genetic variation in the base population was large, the harvest weight of the GIFT fish could be effectively improved by selective breeding, and that there was no immediate need to develop separate strains for different environments.