title: Current understanding of the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.
abstract: Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of Johne's disease (or paratuberculosis). Paratuberculosis is a chronic gastroenteritis mainly affecting cattle, sheep and other ruminants. MAP is also of concern due to the heretofore unresolved issue of its possible role in Crohn's disease in humans. We present here a review of MAP (i) mobile genetic elements; (ii) repetitive elements; (iii) single nucleotide polymorphisms; and (iv) whole-genome comparisons to study the molecular epidemiology of MAP. A summary of the findings to date is presented, and the discriminatory power, advantage and disadvantages of each of the methods are compared and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Food Animal Health Research Program, Ohio Agricultural Research Development Center and Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Alifiya S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Motiwala
authors.forename: Lingling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kapur
authors.forename: Srinand
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sreevatsan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D016927:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D010283:Paratuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements