Abstract
Mycoplasma bovis causes bovine mycoplasmosis. The major clinical manifestations are pneumonia and mastitis. Recently an increase in the severity of mastitis cases was reported in Switzerland. At the molecular level, there is limited understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenicity of M. bovis. Host–pathogen interactions were primarily studied using primary bovine blood cells. Therefore, little is known about the impact of M. bovis on other cell types present in infected tissues. Clear in vitro phenotypes linked to the virulence of M. bovis strains or tissue predilection of specific M. bovis strains have not yet been described. We adapted bovine in vitro systems to investigate infection of epithelial cells with M. bovis using a cell line (MDBK: Madin-Darby bovine kidney cells) and two primary cells (PECT: bovine embryonic turbinate cells and bMec: bovine mammary gland epithelial cells). Two strains isolated before and after the emergence of severe mastitis cases were selected. Strain JF4278 isolated from a cow with mastitis and pneumonia in 2008 and strain L22/93 isolated in 1993 were used to assess the virulence of M. bovis genotypes toward epithelial cells with particular emphasis on mammary gland cells. Our findings indicate that M. bovis is able to adhere to and invade different epithelial cell types. Higher titers of JF4278 than L22/93 were observed in co-cultures with cells. The differences in titers reached between the two strains was more prominent for bMec cells than for MDBK and PECT cells. Moreover, M. bovis strain L22/93 induced apoptosis in MDBK cells and cytotoxicity in PECT cells but not in bMec cells. Dose-dependent variations in proliferation of primary epithelial cells were observed after M. bovis infection. Nevertheless, an indisputable phenotype that could be related to the increased virulence toward mammary gland cells is not obvious.
Highlights
Mycoplasma bovis was first isolated in 1961 in the United States from a dairy herd with an outbreak of mastitis (Hale et al, 1962)
After 30 min, between 4.3% and 9.3% of M. bovis adhered to bovine epithelial cells (Figure 1A)
After 2 h of incubation, adhesion of M. bovis increased with percentages ranging between 13.1% and 26.3% (Figure 1B)
Summary
Mycoplasma bovis was first isolated in 1961 in the United States from a dairy herd with an outbreak of mastitis (Hale et al, 1962). M. bovis is one of the major causative agents of bovine mycoplasmosis. Clinical manifestations are broad, including bronchopneumonia, mastitis, otitis, arthritis, keratoconjunctivitis, meningitis, and genital disorders (Bürki et al, 2015a). This bacterium is an emerging pathogen in industrialized countries, leading to high economic losses in Mycoplasma bovis Cell Infection Models dairy and beef cattle production. Management of bovine mycoplasmosis is challenging as chronic infections in combination with subclinical development of the disease are often observed (Maunsell et al, 2011; Nicholas, 2011). Current vaccines are ineffective in the field and antibiotic treatments generally fail, while resistance to antimicrobials is increasing (Gautier-Bouchardon et al, 2014; Perez-Casal et al, 2017)
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