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. 2022 Nov 17:9:1025282.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.1025282. eCollection 2022.

Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo and Leptospira santarosai serogroup Pyrogenes isolated from bovine dairy herds in Puerto Rico

Camila Hamond  1   2 , Katherine L Dirsmith  3 , Karen LeCount  1   2 , Fred V Soltero  3 , Sarai Rivera-Garcia  3 , Patrick Camp  1 , Tammy Anderson  1   2 , Jessica A Hicks  1 , Renee Galloway  4 , Graham Sutherland  4 , Ilana J Schafer  4 , Marga G A Goris  5 , Hans van der Linden  5 , Tod Stuber  1 , Darrell O Bayles  6 , Linda K Schlater  1   2 , Jarlath E Nally  2   6
Affiliations

Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo and Leptospira santarosai serogroup Pyrogenes isolated from bovine dairy herds in Puerto Rico

Camila Hamond et al. Front Vet Sci. .

Abstract

Leptospirosis is one of the most common zoonotic diseases in the world and endemic in the Caribbean Islands. Bovine leptospirosis is an important reproductive disease. Globally, cattle are recognized as a reservoir host for L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo, which is transmitted via urine, semen, and uterine discharges, and can result in abortion and poor reproductive performance. The dairy industry in Puerto Rico comprises up to 25% of agriculture-related income and is historically the most financially important agricultural commodity on the island. In this study, we report the isolation of two different pathogenic Leptospira species, from two different serogroups, from urine samples collected from dairy cows in Puerto Rico: L. borgpetersenii serogroup Sejroe serovar Hardjo and L. santarosai serogroup Pyrogenes. Recovered isolates were classified using whole-genome sequencing, serotyping with reference antisera and monoclonal antibodies, and immunoblotting. These results demonstrate that dairy herds in Puerto Rico can be concurrently infected with more than one species and serovar of Leptospira, and that bacterin vaccines and serologic diagnostics should account for this when applying intervention and diagnostic strategies.

Keywords: Leptospira; Puerto Rico; borgpetersenii; cow; dairy; leptospirosis; santarosai.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Serotyping with monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that characteristically agglutinate serovars from the serogroup Sejroe and serogroup Pyrogenes. Titers of reactivity for each mAb are provided for (A) L. borgpetersenii strains DCP-009, DCP-041 and reference strain L. interrogans serogroup Sejroe serovar Hardjo strain Hardjoprajitno and (B) L. santarosai strain DCP-017 and reference strains for serogroup Pyrogenes; L. santarosai serovar Alexi strain HS 616, L. interrogans serovar Guaratuba strain An 775 and L. santarosai serovar Princestown strain TRVL 112499. Reciprocal titers are shown on the y-axis; mAb number is shown on the x-axis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogeny of L. borgpetersenii strain DCP-009 and strain DCP-041 and L. santarosai strain DCP-017 based on complete whole genome sequence analysis. Genome sequences from GenBank are preceded by an accession number, while the NVSL in-house sequences are identified only by the species, serogroup, serovar, and strain.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Representative images of (1) L. borgeptersenii serovar Hardjo strain DCP-009 and (2) L. santarosai serogroup Pyrogenes strain DCP-017 showing (A) total protein profiles, (B) total lipopolysaccharide profiles, (C) immunoblotting with anti-LipL32, (D) immunoblotting with anti-serovar Hardjo and (E) immunoblotting with anti-serovar Alexi. Five microgram of each strain was loaded per lane. +ve; postive control for LPS staining comprising 5 μg of E. coli serotype 055:B5. Molecular mass markers are indicated.
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