Abstract

ESPINOSA, Ivette et al. Molecular typing of Streptococcus suis from pigs in Cuba. Biotecnol Apl [online]. 2013, vol.30, n.1, pp. 39-44. ISSN 1027-2852.

Streptococcus suis is a bacterium commonly carried by pigs in the respiratory tract; thus the infections caused by virulent strains are considered a problem in the swine industry. A successful approach for the identification of virulent strains is the differentiation of capsular serotypes using specific antisera or the corresponding cps types by genotypic assessment, with the subsequent detection of virulence associated factors, namely the extracellular factor, the muramidase-released protein and the hemolysin suilysin. Data regarding serological and molecular identification of S. suis from pigs in Cuba are not available. This study was aimed at identifying the capsular types cps2, 7 and 9, as well as three genes related to virulence using PCR assays. According to the results, 31 isolates were evaluated and classified as cps2 (n = 21) or cps9 (n = 4), while six isolates not were typable. Considering the presence in these isolates of the genes mrp, epf and sly, six different genotypes were differentiated among the cps2 or cps9 strains and there were three non-typable isolates for the genes used in this study. The cps2 isolates were recovered from pigs between 6-12 and 14-17 weeks with pneumonia and systemic infection respectively, whereas the cps9 isolates were exclusively associated with pneumonia.

Keywords : Streptococcus suis; virulence markers; genotypes.

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