Diversity of serotypes and new cps loci variants among Streptococcus suis isolates from pigs in Poland and Belarus

Abstract

Streptococcus suis plays an important role in infections in pigs but information about the epidemiology of this pathogen in Poland and Belarus remains scarce. Ninety-six isolates from brain and lungs were studied by PCR-based serotyping, analysis of virulence-associated determinants and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). Selected six isolates were further analyzed by genomic sequencing and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Serotype 2 was most prevalent, followed by serotypes 3, 4, 8 and 7. All isolates carried fbpS; 30, 74 and 79 isolates were positive for epf, mrp and sao, respectively. MLST revealed that while widely distributed clonal complexes, such as 1, 16, 25 and 28 circulate in both countries, a significant part of the population is composed of novel singletons. Six isolates, all positive for the capsule in TEM, harbored cps loci differing to a various degree from these previously described, including one with a novel cps locus (putative NCL21). In conclusion, our study provides first molecular data on S. suis from pigs in the Central/Eastern Europe and contributes to a better characterization of diversity of loci responsible for capsule production in this pathogen.

Keywords: Capsular loci; Diversity; Streptococcus suis; Virulence.