Novel Alleles 8 and 9 Strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides circulating in South East Nigeria and Comparison with Vaccine Reference Strain T1/44

Control of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is difficult in Nigeria due to lack of sufficient data. Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides is the causative organism of CBPP. This disease is endemic in Nigeria with serious economic impact. This study was undertaken to characterize M. mycoides subsp. mycoides (Mmm) in cattle in south-east Nigeria using single-locus sequence analysis based on polymorphism analysis of non-coding genes and also comparison of the obtained sequences with the vaccine reference strain (T1/44) that is presently used in Nigeria. Twenty one Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed Mmm isolates from Anambra and Enugu states of Nigeria were used for this study. The amplicons were amplified using one locus of the PG1 reference strain (LocPG1-0001) and sequenced using the corresponding primers. The sequences were edited using BioEdittm software and a consensus sequence obtained. Thereafter, the consensus sequence was aligned using ClustalW (BioEdittm). The consensus sequences obtained were compared with the PG1 reference strain and allele numbers were assigned based on any nucleotide changes. Three allelic numbers were obtained; Allele 1, 8 and 9. Allele number 8 and 9 are new findings as they were not previously reported in Nigeria. Points of polymorphism were observed between the vaccine strain and the field isolates. The 21 sequences were deposited in the Genbank with the following accession numbers; MW487814-MW487834.