1Instituto vasco de investigacion Y desarrollo agrario (NEIKER), Berreaga, 1, 48160 derio, Bizkaia, Spain.
2Microbiology section, Central Institute for research on Goats, Makhdoom, Post farah, Dist. Mathura, (UP), 281122.
3Department of microbiology and immunology, college of veterinary science and animal husbandry, C.S. Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Mathura Campus, Mathura-281001, U.P.
Genotypic differences had been used to characterise isolates of Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis (Map), the agent of paratuberculosis in ruminants. These differences came up to two groups: cattle type strains and sheep type strains. The Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Endonuclease Analysis (PCR-REA) based on polymorph isms in IS1311, an insertion sequence present in Map and in Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium (Maa) in 7‒10 cpoies, technique can be used as an easy and rapid method to distinguish between Maa and both cattle and sheep strains. Here we report the results of a study where we have used this IS1311-PCR-REA typing method on a series of mycobacterial isolates sheep and goats in India.
Indian paratubrculosis cases, all isolates were identified as B type strains regardless of being of ovine or caprine origin. These findings led to the suspicion that a strain different from S could be involved in these cases, probably a C strain. However the molecular methods used in this study proved that they were B type strains, only described before in bison (Bison bison) from Montana (USA). Pending more extensive typing in other regions, the results reported here establish an unexpected link between American bison and Indian small ruminants.
This is the first report of involvement of B type Masp strain in goatherds and sheep flocks endemic for Johne's disease, in India. This study also provides a genetic key to contradictory reports on the isolation of sheep strains and underlines the importance of using different for primary isolation according to the host species.
