Molecular Detection of Outer Membrane Protein 2 Gene in Isolated Brucella from Sheep and Goats in Sharazor/Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Abstract

Received: Revised: Accepted: Published online: October 10, 2018 February 15, 2019 February 28, 2019 March 22, 2019 Brucellosis is an economically important zoonotic disease that is endemic in different parts of Iraq. An outbreak of abortion occurred in sheep and goats in Sharazor subdistrict, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq and Brucella infection was suspected to be the cause. Between November 1, 2014, and January 31, 2015, 47 tissue and vaginal swab samples were collected from 17 herds. Samples from each herd were mixed together to make 17 pooled samples. The Brucella genus-specific primer Bruc was used to amplify the 223 bp amplicon of bcsp31 gene. Fifteen of the 17 samples (88%) were positive for Brucella genus. Thereafter, five samples were randomly selected to identify the species by designing four sets of Brucella-species-specific primers. Sequencing of the Outer Membrane Protein 2 (omp2) gene was performed and the sequences were aligned with others in the GenBank databases. The results showed that the omp2 gene of the five isolates from Sharazor had 99-100% similarities with Brucella melitensis bv. 2 that was isolated from United States (accession number CP007789) and B. melitensis strain 20236 (accession # CP008750) isolated from human in China. The amino acid sequences of the omp2a gene in the five isolates were similar with other isolates in GenBank with the exception of B. suis bv. 2 (accession # CP007720). This study reported the occurrence of B. melitensis for the first time in Sharazor subdistrict, Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq, using molecular techniques. ©2019 PVJ. All rights reserved