Indian Journal of Animal Research

  • Chief EditorK.M.L. Pathak

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Molecular Detection of Brucella melitensis, Chlamydophila spp., Campylobacter spp., Brucella abortus and Coxiella burnetii in Genital Tracts of Goats

Abhinav Singh1, Anil Kumar Mishra1,*, K. Gururaj1, Ashok Kumar1, Nitika Sharma1, Chetna Gangwar1, Vinay Chaturvedi1
1Animal Health Division, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Goats, Makhdoom, Farah-281 122, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Abortion is the major reproductive problem in goats faced by goat-keepers. Abortion in animals including goats is caused mainly by infectious agents. The current study was planned to assess the presence of Brucella melitensis, Chlamydophila spp., Campylobacter spp., Brucella abortus and Coxiella burnetii in the genital tracts of goats and foetal stomach contents. A total of 260 biological samples (vaginal/preputial secretions and foetal stomach contents) were randomly collected from the goats. The genomic DNA extraction from the samples was done by using the commercial kit. The detection of the targeted infectious agents in the biological samples was done by species as well as genus-specific polymerase chain reactions. Standardization of PCRs was done using gradient PCR. The PCR products were run in a 1% agarose gel to determine the gene size. Out of 260 samples, the presence of Coxiella burnetii was not detected in any sample. Brucella abortus was detected in two aborted goats. Only 10 samples out of 260 (6 vaginal swabs from the aborted goats and 4 foetal stomach contents) were found positive for Brucella melitensis. A total of 117 samples were found positive for Chlamydophila spp., whereas 84 were found positive for Campylobacter spp. A total of 63 samples were found positive for both Chlamydophila spp. and Campylobacter spp. The present study concludes that Chlamydophila and Campylobacter spp. were found as the prevalent microbial agents, which may be associated with abortion in goats in the forthcoming pregnancies in adverse conditions.
The diseases are one of the major problelms faced in goat farming which are responsible for significant economic losses to the farmers (Mahdi et al., 2015; Doley and Nekibuddin, 2017). Amongst the diseases, genital abnormalities are the important ones that adversely affect reproductive potential of the goats (Azawi et al., 2010). The important reproductive aliments in goats are abortion, retention of placenta and stillbirth (Beena et al., 2017). Out of the aliments mentioned above, abortion is the commonest one, which affects productivity profoundly in goats and sheep (Menzies, 2011).
 
       
Both infectious and non-infectious agents may cause abortion in goats (Entrican et al., 2009), but infectious ones are the predominant cause of caprine abortions (Smith and Sherman, 2009). Further, caprine abortion is mainly caused by the bacterial pathogens amongst the infectious agents (Smith and Sherman, 2009; Kahn and Line, 2010). There are several viruses such as Akabane, Cache Valley, Blue Tongue, Border Disease, Herpes, Nairobi Sheep Disease, PPR, Rift Valley Fever, Wesselsbron Disease, Bovine Viral Diarrhoea, etc, which are capable to cause abortions in goats (Smith and Sherman, 2009) and caprine herpes virus is the most common one in causing abortions in goats (Moeller, 2001; Kahn and Line, 2010). Under the parasitic agents, Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora caninum, Sarcocystis, Anaplasma, etc. may cause caprine abortions and the most common one is Toxoplasma gondii (Shaapan, 2016). The fungal agents associated with caprine abortions are Aspergillus, Candida, Mucor, Rhizopus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, Rhodotorula, Absidia, Alternaria, Fusarium, etc. (Pal et al., 1985; Pal, 1988; Verma et al., 1999). Aspergillus followed by Candida is the most prevalent fungi associated with abortion in goats (Vandyousefi and Zoghi, 1988). Brucella, Chlamydia, Coxiella burnetii, Campylobacter, Listeria monocytogenes, Leptospira (mostly interrogans, grippotyphosa and pomona), Mycoplasma, Salmonella, E. coli, S. aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus, Aeromonas, Fusobacterium, Trueperella pyogenes, etc. are the main causative agents of caprine abortions under Bacteria, Rickettsia and Chlamydia (Menzies, 2011, Elhaig et al., 2018; Tejedor-Junco et al., 2019) and the most common ones are Brucella melitensis, Chlamydophila, Coxiella burnetii, Campylobacter and Listeria monocytogenes (Menzies, 2011; Kushwaha et al., 2016; Saini et al., 2017; Rossetti et al., 2017; Rajagunalan et al., 2019; Lakshmikanth et al., 2021). These microorganisms are also capable to cause infections/diseases in human beings (Kumar et al., 2010; Mändar et al., 2015). The presence of the above microorganisms in the genital tract of the male goat may cause deterioration of semen quality leading to reduced sperm motility and viability (Gangwar et al., 2020) and may spread the infection to female goats through natural service as well as artificial insemination (Mändar et al., 2015). Likewise, the presence of the said microorganisms in the female genital tracts may cause abortion and infertility in goats and simultaneously, may infect male goats and humans as well (Gangwar et al., 2020). That is why, the current study was undertaken to assess the association of Brucella melitensis, Chlamydophila spp., Campylobacter spp., Brucella abortus and Coxiella burnetii with caprine abortions.
       
The study was conducted during the year 2020-2021 at ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Goats (ICAR-CIRG), Makhdoom, Farah, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh (India).
 
Sample collection
 
A total of 260 biological samples (number of preputial secretions=230, number of vaginal secretions=15 and foetal stomach content=15) were aseptically collected and immediately transported to the Microbiology Laboratory of ICAR-CIRG for further investigation. The samples were comprised of vaginal and preputial secretions of goats and stomach contents from the aborted foetuses. The goats reared at ICAR-CIRG and the field goats of Districts Agra and Mathura of Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur of Rajasthan (India) were selected for the experimentation.
 
Extraction of the genomic DNAs
 
The genomic DNA extraction from the biological samples was done by using DNASure ® Tissue Mini Kit (Genetix Asia Pvt Ltd) according to the protocol of the manufacturer. The extracted DNAs were run in a 0.8% agarose gel to determine their presence and integrity.
 
Molecular identification of the microorganisms
 
The detection of the targeted infectious agents (Brucella melitensis, Brucella abortus, Coxiella burnetii, Chlamydophila spp. and Campylobacter spp.) in the biological samples (vaginal/preputial secretions and foetal stomach contents) was done by specific polymerase chain reactions (PCRs; species and genus-specific). Standardization of PCRs was done using gradient PCR. Details regarding the primers, target genes and size of PCR products are given in Table 1. Likewise, the details regarding the PCR conditions are given in Table 2. The PCRs were performed by using EmeraldAmp GT PCR Master Mix (DSS Takara) following the manufacturer’s instructions. The PCR products were run in a 1.5% TAE-agarose gel with a 100 bp marker (Thermo Scientific) to determine the gene size.
 

Table 1: Details regarding the target genes, the primers and size of the PCR products.


 

Table 2: Cycling conditions of the different primers set during the PCRs.


 
Out of 260 samples, the presence of Coxiella burnetii was not detected in any sample (Table 3; Fig 1). Thus, in our study, the role of Coxiella burnetii in causing an abortion in goats was not proven in the sampling area. But, Vaidya et al., (2010) demonstrated the prevalence of Q fever in goats as 6.1% after screening a total of 53 samples (genital swabs, milk, fecal swabs, urine and serum). Rajagunalan et al., 2019 reported the first case of abortion induced by Coxiella burnetii in goats in India.
 

Table 3: Percent positivity of the microorganisms in the genital tracts of the goats.


 

Fig 1: Detection of C. burnetii by PCR.


       
Brucella abortus was detected in the vaginal secretions of two aborted goats, whereas presence of Brucella melitensis, Campylobacter spp., Chlamydophila spp. and Coxiella burnetii in these goats was not confirmed, which indicates the potential of Brucella abortus to cause abortion in goats too (Table 3; Fig 2). This is the unique finding of this study. However, Moeller (2001) also reported that caprine abortion occurred due to Brucella abortus.
 

Fig 2: Detection of B. abortus by PCR.


       
Only 10 samples out of 260 (6 vaginal swabs from the aborted goats and 4 fetal stomach contents) were found positive for Brucella melitensis (Table 3; Fig 3), whereas Brucella melitensis, Brucella abortus, Campylobacter spp., Chlamydophila spp. and Coxiella burnetii were not detected in these goats. However, many other workers reported a higher prevalence of B. melitensis in genital tracts of goats as well as the main cause of caprine abortions (Smith and Sherman, 2009; Kahn and Line, 2010; Samadi et al., 2010; Sadhu et al., 2015). Hence, further study is required to evaluate the current finding about role of Brucella melitensis in caprine abortion.
 

Fig 3: Detection of B. melitensis by PCR.


       
A total of 117 samples were found positive for Chlamydophila spp. (110 preputial secretions and 7 stomach contents) (Table 3; Fig 4), whereas 84 were found positive for Campylobacter spp. (all preputial secretions) (Table 3; Fig 5). A total of 63 samples were found positive for both Chlamydophila spp. and Campylobacter spp. These two microorganisms, being commensals, can act as opportunistic pathogens and their pathological significance needs to be associated with the gross and histopathological changes in the affected animals. Gangwar et al., (2020) found 53.13% of samples positive for Chlamydophila spp. and Sharma et al., (2008) also found Chlamydophila spp. as the most common cause of abortions in goats and sheep. However, contrary to our finding, in a study conducted by Beena et al., (2017), 5.30% positivity of Campylobacter spp. was reported in the genital samples from goats, whereas in another study, campylobacteriosis was reported only rarely as a cause of abortion in goats (Moeller, 2001).
 

Fig 4: Detection of Chlamydophila spp. by PCR.


 

Fig 5: Detection of Campylobacter spp. by PCR.


               
Thus, the present study concludes that Chlamydophila spp. and Campylobacter spp. were found as the prevalent microbial agents, which may be associated with abortion in goats in adverse conditions during the forthcoming pregnancies.
Chlamydophila spp. followed by Campylobacter spp. were found as the most prevalent microorganisms in the genital tracts of goats. Brucella abortus was also detected in the aborted goats indicating its potential to cause abortion in goats too. The presence of Coxiella burnetii was not detected in a single sample and Brucella melitensis was found in a few samples only. This finding is not in concurrence with the fact that Brucella melitensis and Coxiella burnetii are the main cause of caprine abortions. Hence, extensive investigation with a structured sampling plan is required to establish the association of the targeted microorganisms (Brucella melitensis, Chlamydophila spp., Campylobacter spp., Brucella abortus and Coxiella burnetii) with caprine abortions and their epidemiological significance.
The authors are thankful to the Director, ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Goats (ICAR-CIRG), Makhdoom for his financial as well as logistic support to carry out the research work.
The sample collection from the animals was done after taking approval from Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) and Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA).
None.

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