Distribution of IS900 restriction fragment length polymorphism types amonganimal Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis isolates from Argentina and Europe

Sixty-one Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates from cattle and deer from the Buenos Aires province, an important livestock region in A rgentina, were typed by restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) an alysis based on IS900. Four different RFLP patterns (designated 'A', 'B', ' C' and 'E') were identified in BstEII digests of genomic DNA. The most freq uently observed type, pattern 'A', was found in 46 isolates (75%). The seco nd, pattern 'E', included 8 isolates (13%), while the third, pattern 'B', i ncluded 6 isolates (10%). Pattern 'C' was found for only one isolate. All o f the deer isolates were classified as pattern 'A', while cattle isolates r epresented all four RFLP patterns. Twenty-one isolates representing the fou r different BstEII-RFLP patterns were digested with PstI. Twenty isolates s howed identical PsrI-RFLP pattern. BstEII-RFLP patterns from Argentine catt le and deer were compared with patterns found in cattle, goat, deer, rabbit , and human isolates from Europe. The most common pattern in Argentina, pat tern 'A', was identical to a less frequently occurring pattern R9 (C17) fro m Europe. The other Argentine patterns 'B','C' and 'E', were not found in t he Europe. These results indicate that the distribution of M, avium subsp. paratuberculosis genotypes in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina is dif ferent from that found in Europe. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.