J Vet Sci.  2010 Sep;11(3):265-267. 10.4142/jvs.2010.11.3.265.

Identification of Arcanobacterium pyogenes isolated by post mortem examinations of a bearded dragon and a gecko by phenotypic and genotypic properties

• Ulbegi-Mohyla H
• Hijazin M
• Alber J
• Lammler C
• Hassan AA
• Abdulmawjood A
• Prenger-Berninghoff E
• Weiss R
• Zschock M

• KMID: 1093502
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4142/jvs.2010.11.3.265

Abstract

The present study was designed to identify phenotypically and genotypically two Arcanobacterium (A.) pyogenes strains isolated by post mortem examinations of a bearded dragon and a gecko. The A. pyogenes strains showed the typical biochemical properties and displayed CAMP-like synergistic hemolytic activities with various indicator strains. The species identity could be confirmed genotypically by amplification and sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene and, as novel target gene, by sequencing of the beta subunit of RNA polymerase encoding gene rpoB, of both strains and of reference strains representing nine species of the genus Arcanobacterium. The species identity of the two A. pyogenes strains could additionally be confirmed by PCR mediated amplification of species specific parts of the 16S-23S rDNA intergenic spacer region, the pyolysin encoding gene plo and by amplification of the collagen-binding protein encoding gene cbpA. All these molecular targets might help to improve the future identification and further characterization of A. pyogenes which, as demonstrated in the present study, could also be isolated from reptile specimens.

Keyword

Arcanobacterium pyogenes; bearded dragon; gecko; rpoB; 16S rDNA

MeSH Terms

Animals
Arcanobacterium/*cytology/*genetics
Bacterial Proteins/genetics
Bacterial Toxins/genetics
Cluster Analysis
DNA Primers/genetics
DNA, Ribosomal/genetics
Diagnosis
Genotype
Hemolysin Proteins/genetics
Lizards/*microbiology
Molecular Sequence Data
*Phenotype
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Species Specificity

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Dendrogram analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences (A) and rpoB gene sequences (B) of the A. pyogenes strains of the present study and of various Arcanobacterium spp. obtained from the NCBI GenBank and of sequencing results of the present study.

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