Molecular detection of Brucella spp.: rapid identification of B. abortus biovar I using PCR

Brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease caused by several species of the genus Brucella. The most reliable diagnostic tests are based on microbiological analysis, bacterial growth, and biochemical reactions which are cumbersome and represent a risk of infection for technicians performing them. Recently, safe molecular genetic techniques have been incorporated in studies regarding taxonomy and evolution of Brucella. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used here to analyze a duplicated gene (omp 2) encoding an outer membrane protein in members of the genus Brucella. The developed procedure detects each of the five species herein tested and their biovars: B. abortus, B. suis, B. melitensis, B. canis and B. ovis. It also permits the detection of an approximately 115 bp deletion in the omp 2a gene, consistently found in five different strains of B. abortus biovar 1: vaccine strain S19, rough mutant RB51, reference strains 544 and A99, and a strain isolated from naturally infected bovines.