Genetic variations among Mycoplasma bovis strains isolated from Danish cattle

The genetic heterogeneity of Mycoplasma bovis strains isolated in Denmark over a 17-year period was investigated. Forty-two field strains isolated from different geographic locations and specimens, including strains from 21 herds involved in two outbreaks of M. bovis-induced mastitis, and the type strain of M. bovis (PG45(T)) were assayed for variations in the BglII and MfeI restriction sites in the chromosomal DNA by using the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprinting technique. The obtained genomic fingerprints consisted of 62-68 AFLP fragments in the size range of 50-500 bp. Among the analyzed strains, 18 different AFLP profiles were detected. The similarity between individual fingerprints, calculated by Dice similarity coefficient, ranged from 0.9 to 1.0. Twenty-five strains, including 23 which were isolated during two outbreaks of M. bovis-induced mastitis which occurred 2 years apart, showed indistinguishable AFLP patterns. More genetic diversity was observed among the recent strains. The similarity of the genotypes of the field strains to that of the M. bovis type strain (PG45(T)) was 97.7%. The results of this study have demonstrated a remarkable genomic homogeneity of Danish strains of M. bovis that were probably epidemiologically related and which have remained stable for a considerable length of time. Furthermore, this study has demonstrated that AFLP can be used for genomic fingerprinting and discrimination of M. bovis strains.