Phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of Trueperella abortisuis recovered from the feline reproductive tract

Abstract

Large numbers of infections and effective treatment or control depend on the ability to identify the causative agents of animal infections. Here we describe a study of an isolate DG22/1209/12 obtained from vaginal pus exudate collected from a Siamese cat. The isolate was believed to be a member of Trueperella abortisuis, which is related to problems with reproduction. The most important was to identify this isolate by applying different techniques of diagnosis. It included phenotypic testing, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), and molecular techniques such as amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, intergenic spacer region (ISR), and the gap and tuf genes. Phenotypic tests confirmed the identification of DG22/1209/12 as T. abortisuis. Finally, the identification was confirmed with MALDI-TOF MS analysis which demonstrated log (score) value of 2.09 indicating a secure genus identification, probable species identification on T. abortisuis. Molecular analysis revealed a high sequence identity of 99.9 %, 99.5 %, 99.4 %, and 99.5 % for the 16S rRNA gene, ISR, gap, and tuf genes, respectively, for both the isolate DG22/1209/12 and the reference isolate T. abortisuis DSM 19515T. The study highlights the effectiveness of combining phenotypic and genomic methods to accurately identify bacterial pathogens in veterinary medicine, leading towards focused intervention strategies.