A spirochete isolated from a case of severe virulent ovine foot disease isclosely related to a Treponeme isolated from human periodontitis and bovine digital dermatitis

The isolation of spirochetes from severe ovine foot disease has been report ed recently by our research group. In this study we describe the preliminar y classification of this spirochete based on nucleotide sequence analysis o f the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis of this sequence i n comparison with other previously reported 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the spirochete belonged to the treponemal phylotype Treponema vincenti i which has been associated with bovine digital dermatitis and human period ontal disease. Further work is required to define the common virulence dete rminants of these closely related treponemes in the aetiology of these tiss ue destructive diseases. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved .