Vet World   Vol.10   January-2017  Article-2

Molecular characterization of Rhodococcus equi isolates in equines

Background and Aim: The aim was to determine the occurrence of Rhodococcus equi in equines and their environment in Jammu (R.S. Pura, Katra), molecular characterization and to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern of R. equi.

Materials and Methods: A total of 96 nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from equines. The organism was isolated on Columbia nalidixic acid agar containing 5% sheep blood as well as on sheep blood agar and was later confirmed by cultural characteristics and biochemical tests. Molecular detection of R. equi isolates was done by 16S rRNA gene amplification followed by virulence associated protein A (Vap A) gene amplification. Antibiogram was performed against five antibiotics, viz., amoxicillin, penicillin G, streptomycin, rifampicin, and methicillin.

Results: During the study, 9 R. equi isolates were identified on the basis of cultural and biochemical tests. In the polymerase chain reaction based detection, 3 among the 9 rhodococcal isolates were positive for species-specific 16S rRNA gene and revealed amplicon of 450 bp for confirmation of 16S rRNA gene. None of the sample was found positive for Vap A gene. In antibiogram, R. equi isolates were found sensitive for amoxicillin, while some isolates were also found resistant to the most conventional antibiotic penicillin G.

Conclusion: From this study, it was concluded that R. equi infection is prevalent in equines in Jammu region of India and the indiscriminate use of the antibiotics is leading toward the development of resistant strains of R. equi. Keywords: 16S rRNA, polymerase chain reaction, Rhodococcus equi.

Keywords: 16S rRNA, polymerase chain reaction, Rhodococcus equi.

How to cite this article: Javed R, Taku AK, Sharma RK, Badroo GA (2017) Molecular characterization of Rhodococcus equi isolates in equines, Veterinary World, 10(1): 6-10.

Received: 06-09-2016  Accepted: 07-12-2016     Published online: 05-01-2017

Corresponding author: Rabyia Javed   E-mail: rabiajavedkhan@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.6-10

Copyright: Javed, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.