Abstract

Mycoplasma agalactiae is the etiological agent of contagious agalactia, which is the first isolated mycoplasma from sheep and goats. The bacteria have been detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in Iranian goats, but there has been no investigation of the molecular characterization of contagious agalactia agents in goats in Iran. Several studies have also characterized M. agalactiae strains. The aim of this study was to analyze the DNA sequence of M. agalactiae isolates from Iranian goats, and compare it with the other Iranian isolates and vaccinal strains obtained from GenBank. Therefore, PCR with a mycoplasmal cytoplasmic membrane protein 80 KDa (P80) gene was applied to Iranian isolates and the PCR product was purified and sequenced. After the computer alignment of these gene sequences was done, the next process was comparing the result with the specific species of M. agalactiae deposited in GenBank. However, a sequence identity matrix is represented (Bio Edit, Clustal W) and a phylogenetic tree is built by the neighbor-joining method. 1000 bootstrap simulations were given at the tree’s branching points and represent these points’ phylogenetic relationships. Sequence analysis of different M. agalactiae showed significant variability among the field isolates. In comparison with vaccine strains, which are used in Iranian goat herds, characterized isolates under this study has a poor homology.

Key words: Mycoplasma agalactiae, contagious agalactia, molecular characterization, goat, Iran