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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Infectious Bacterial Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #87945
Title: MOLECULAR EPIDEMIOLOGY OF TUBERCULOSIS IN WILD, WHITE-TAILED DEER IN MICHIGAN

Author
item Whipple, Diana
item BERRY, D - MI DEPT HEALTH, LANSING
item JARNAGIN, J - USDA/APHIS/VS/NVSL
item PAYEUR, J - USDA/APHIS/VS/NVSL

Submitted to: American Society for Microbiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, was discovered in a 4-yr-old, white-tailed deer during the 1994 hunting season. Since then, several wildlife surveys have been conducted and M. bovis has been isolated from 77 tissue samples collected from over 70 white-tailed deer and from one coyote harvested from a five-county region of NE Mich. In addition, M. bovis was isolated from a cow (Mich. 1994), a captive elk (Mich. 1995), and a heifer (Wisc. 1995). RFLP analysis was used to study the molecular epidemiology of these isolates. DNA extracted from each isolate was digested with restriction endonucleases PvuII and AluI. The following DNA probes were used: 1) an IS6110 123-bp sequence, which hybridizes downstream of the PvuII site; 2) an IS6110 445-bp sequence, which spans the PvuII site; 3) the direct repeat sequence; and 4) the polymorphic GC-rich repetitive sequence. RFLP types were designated for each isolate by combining results of the 4 different probes. There were 10 different RFLP types among the M. bovis isolates that were analyzed. Ninety two percent (71/77) of the deer isolates had a single copy of IS6110. The RFLP patterns for 53 of the deer isolates were identical to the patterns for isolates from the coyote, the Mich. cow, and the Wisc. heifer. The RFLP patterns for an additional 16 deer isolates differed from the patterns for the 53 isolates by the presence of one extra band when DNA was probed with the IS6110 445-bp sequence. RFLP patterns for the M. bovis isolate from the Mich. elk did not match any of the other patterns for isolates originating in Mich. However, the RFLP patterns for the captive elk isolate were identical to those observed for M. bovis isolates from captive elk in Mont. It is likely that the elk in Mich. and Mont. had contact with a common source of M. bovis.