title: Identification of staphylococcal and streptococcal causes of bovine mastitis using 16S-23S rRNA spacer regions.
abstract: Bovine mastitis is caused mainly by certain Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species. The sequences of the 16S-23S rRNA spacer regions were determined for the nine species which cause mastitis: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus chromogenes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus hyicus, Staphylococcus simulans, Staphylococcus xylosus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Streptococcus uberis. Significant variation was found between the spacer sequences of different species with the lengths of the spacers varying from 240 to 461 bp. Between genera the spacers shared only short conserved regions (8-9 bp) and within genera the sequence identities varied from 53 to 85%. This variation made it possible to construct specific primer pairs for these species and genera. The specificities of these primers were tested with 25 bacterial species and 51 isolates from cattle with clinical mastitis. The DNA-based identification of the mastitis species was mostly successful.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Oulu, Linnanmaa FIN-90570 Oulu Finland.
authors.forename: Pivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Forsman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Oulu, Linnanmaa FIN-90570 Oulu Finland.
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tilsaia-Timisjrvi
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Laboratory, REDEC of Kajaani, University of Oulu FIN-88600 Sotkamo Finland.|Department of Biology, University of Oulu, Linnanmaa FIN-90570 Oulu Finland.
authors.forename: Tapani
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alatossava
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000382:microbiology*; D008892:Milk / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000235:genetics*; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012338:RNA, Ribosomal, 23S