Molecular epidemiology of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Tanzania based on amplified fragment length polymorphism and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis

The genetic diversity of 60 field strains of Mycoplasma mycoides ssp. mycoi des, small colony type (M,. mycoides), comprising 56 isolates from cattle i n Tanzania, one from Kenya, two from Botswana and one from Portugal, as wel l as the type (PG1(T)) and vaccine (T-1-SR49) strains, was ivestigated. The strains were analysed fur variations in the EcoRI and Csp6I restriction si tes in the genomic DNA using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AF LP) technique, and variations in the BamHI restriction sites using pulscd-f ield gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Six AFLP I) pes were detected among the an alysed strains. The AFLP profiles of the type and vaccine strains were indi stingiuishable from each other. Indistinguishable AFLP profiles were found for 55 Tanzanian held strains, one of them isolated in 1990 and the other 5 4 isolated in 1998/1999), although one strain isolated in 1999 showed a dif ferent profile. Strains from different countries revealed different AFLP pr ofiles. Six PFGE types were detected among the analysed strains, with all t he 56 Tanzanian held strains displaying indistinguishable PFGE profiles. St rains from different countries revealed different PFGE profiles, and so did the type anti vaccine strains. The strong genomic homogeneity among, M. my coides SC strains associated with outbreaks of contagious bovine pleuropneu monia in different regions of Tanzania suggests that the outbreaks of the d isease in the 1990-99 period might have been caused Ly a single epidemic cl one. Moreover, this study; has demonstrated that AFLP and PFGE are potentia l tools for molecular epidemiological studies of M. mycoides SC infections.