Global Multilocus Sequence Typing Analysis of Mycoplasma bovis Isolates Reveals Two Main Population Clusters

Mycoplasma bovis is a major bovine pathogen associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD) complex and responsible for substantial economic losses worldwide. M. bovis is also associated with other clinical presentations in cattle including mastitis, otitis, arthritis and reproductive disorders. To gain a better understanding of the genetic diversity of this pathogen, a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme was developed and applied to the characterization of 137 M. bovis isolates from diverse geographical origins obtained from healthy and clinically infected cattle. After in silico analysis, a final set of 7 housekeeping genes were selected (dnaA, metS, recA, tufA, atpA, rpoD and tkt). MLST analysis demonstrated the presence of 35 different sequence types (STs), distributed in two main clonal complexes (CC), defined at the double locus variant (DLV) level, CC1, which included most of the British and German isolates, and CC2, formed by a more heterogeneous and geographically distant group of isolates including European, Asian and Australian samples. The index of association analysis confirmed the clonal nature of the investigated M. bovis population based on MLST data. This scheme has demonstrated a high discriminatory power with analysis showing the presence of genetically distant and divergent clusters of isolates predominantly associated with their geographical origin. Correction in: J. Clin. Microbiol. May 2017 vol. 55 no. 5 1596-1597