Open AccessOuter Membrane Proteins and DNA Profiles in Strains of Haemophilus parasuis Recovered from Systemic and Respiratory Sites
Author(s) -
A Ruiz,
Simone Oliveira,
Montserrat Torremorell,
Carlos Pijoan
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of clinical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.349
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1070-633X
pISSN - 0095-1137
DOI - 10.1128/jcm.39.5.1757-1762.2001
Subject(s) - biology , virulence , genotype , haemophilus , microbiology and biotechnology , pasteurellaceae , outbreak , bacterial outer membrane , virology , gel electrophoresis , dna , bacteria , haemophilus influenzae , gene , escherichia coli , genetics , antibiotics
Polyserositis caused by Haemophilus parasuis is an important disease that affects mostly weaned pigs. Recent studies have shown that virulence can differ among strains recovered from distinct body sites and also that it may be related to the presence of certain outer membrane proteins (OMPs). The objective of this study was to compare the OMP and DNA profiles of H. parasuis strains isolated from systemic and respiratory sites from diseased and healthy pigs. Strains evaluated in this study were processed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and repetitive-PCR techniques. Two experiments were conducted in order to better define the relationship among genotype, phenotype, and site of isolation. Experiment 1 included 53 H. parasuis isolates recovered from healthy and diseased pigs from unrelated herds. Experiment 2 included 31 isolates of H. parasuis obtained from diseased pigs involved in an outbreak in a large, multifarm system. Results showed that strains recovered from systemic sites had more homogeneous OMP and DNA profiles than those isolated from respiratory sites. Evaluation of isolates involved in the multifarm outbreak showed that only two H. parasuis strains were causing disease. These strains had homogeneous OMP and DNA profiles. However, it was noted that these two parameters were unrelated, since strains classified in the same genotype group expressed different OMP profiles. The homogeneity of OMP and DNA profiles of strains isolated from systemic sites strongly suggests the existence of clonal relationships between virulent strains and also suggests that expression of certain OMP profiles may be related to virulence.