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. 2020;69(1):1-7.
doi: 10.33073/pjm-2020-009.

Isolation and Identification of Chlamydia abortus from Aborted Ewes in Sulaimani Province, Northern Iraq

Eman Dhahir Arif  1 , Nahla Muhammad Saeed  1 , Shwan Kamal Rachid  2
Affiliations

Isolation and Identification of Chlamydia abortus from Aborted Ewes in Sulaimani Province, Northern Iraq

Eman Dhahir Arif et al. Pol J Microbiol. 2020.

Abstract

Abortion in small ruminants is a significant problem in Iraq and causes severe economic losses in sheep farms. Chlamydia abortus causes enzootic abortion in ewes and is associated with reproductive problems in sheep in Sulaimani province - Northern Iraq. During a lambing season in 2017, abortion was widespread among several sheep flocks in different regions of Sulaimani (Kalar, Said Sadiq, and Chamchamal), and C. abortus was one of the causes. Accordingly, we carried out this study to isolate and identify C. abortus in aborted ewes in these regions. We collected 30 samples of aborted fetuses from five herds in which abortions had been observed. The pathogen isolation was done by inoculation into embryonated chicken eggs and conventional PCR was used to identify C. abortus in clinical specimens. C. abortus was identified in one of the 30 aborted fetuses (3.33%) from the Kalar district, and all the remaining 29 samples (96.66%) were found positive to Brucella abortus. The gene ompA encoding the outer membrane protein of C. abortus was sequenced and got the accession number MK643153 in NCBI GenBank. The sequence was named C. abortus strain Sul/2017. Our isolate showed 99.79% homology with Sul/014 (accession No. KY399850) and differed from the latter by two amino acid substitutions at E115K and K259N. The topology of the phylogenetic tree based on the ompA gene showed that the isolate belongs to C. abortus and has a common ancestor with isolates of sheep in Iraq and Tunisia with accession numbers KY399850 and HQ62243, respectively.

Abortion in small ruminants is a significant problem in Iraq and causes severe economic losses in sheep farms. Chlamydia abortus causes enzootic abortion in ewes and is associated with reproductive problems in sheep in Sulaimani province – Northern Iraq. During a lambing season in 2017, abortion was widespread among several sheep flocks in different regions of Sulaimani (Kalar, Said Sadiq, and Chamchamal), and C. abortus was one of the causes. Accordingly, we carried out this study to isolate and identify C. abortus in aborted ewes in these regions. We collected 30 samples of aborted fetuses from five herds in which abortions had been observed. The pathogen isolation was done by inoculation into embryonated chicken eggs and conventional PCR was used to identify C. abortus in clinical specimens. C. abortus was identified in one of the 30 aborted fetuses (3.33%) from the Kalar district, and all the remaining 29 samples (96.66%) were found positive to Brucella abortus. The gene ompA encoding the outer membrane protein of C. abortus was sequenced and got the accession number MK643153 in NCBI GenBank. The sequence was named C. abortus strain Sul/2017. Our isolate showed 99.79% homology with Sul/014 (accession No. KY399850) and differed from the latter by two amino acid substitutions at E115K and K259N. The topology of the phylogenetic tree based on the ompA gene showed that the isolate belongs to C. abortus and has a common ancestor with isolates of sheep in Iraq and Tunisia with accession numbers KY399850 and HQ62243, respectively.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors do not report any financial or personal connections with other persons or organizations, which might negatively affect the contents of this publication and/or claim authorship rights to this publication.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Map of Iraq with Sulaimani province, showing the districts, Kalar, SaidSadiq, and Chamchamal, where samplings were carried out.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Embryonated egg showing a dead chick embryo five days after inoculation. The infected yolk sacs were thin-walled, and their blood vessels were severely congested. Yolk appeared as a right-colored liquid, and the growth of the embryo was stunted.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Phylogenic trees based on the ompA gene showed that the Sul/2017 chlamydia from Iraq belonged to C. abortus and revealed that Sul/2017 has a common ancestor, respectively. The partial ompA gene of Sul/2017 has been compared with 75 sequences of Chlamydia species that were published in GenBank and MLST websites for Chlamydiales (http://pubmlst.org/chlamydiales/). The tree shows that Sul/2017 has a common ancestor with isolates of sheep in Iraq and Tunisia with accession numbers KY399850 and HQ62243 and with Sul/2014, CAAB7, H and Krauss-15 isolates that were in a group 2 of Chlamydia abortus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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