title: Molecular prevalence of putative virulence-associated genes in Brucella melitensis and Brucella abortus isolates from human and livestock specimens in Iran.
abstract: Molecular prevalence of nine putative virulence factors in two more prevalent Brucella species in Iranian patients and livestock was investigated. During five years (2010-2015), 120 human and animal specimens were collected from three geographical areas of Iran. All samples were cultured in blood culture media and subcultured into Brucella agar medium. Nine primer pairs were designed for detection of VirB2, VirB5, VceC, BtpA, BtpB, PrpA, BetB, BPE275 and BSPB virulence factors using PCR and sequence analysis. Totally, 68 Brucella isolates including 60 B. melitensis and 8 B. abortus were isolated from the human and animal specimens examined. Approximately, all B. melitensis and B. abortus strains were positive (100%) regarding btpA, btpB, virB5, vceC, bpe275, bspB, and virB2 genes except for prpA and betB that were detected in 86% and 97% of the strains, respectively. Significant relationships were found between the presence of prpA and human B. melitensis isolates (P = 0.04), and also between the presence of betB and human isolates of B. abortus (P = 0.03). In conclusion, our results revealed that Iranian Brucella strains, regardless of human or animal sources, are extremely virulent due to high prevalence of virulence attributes in almost all strains studied.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Iman
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hashemifar
authors.affiliation: Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: babak_y1983@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yadegar
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Faramarz Masjedian
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Jazi
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: amirmozafari@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Nour
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amirmozafari
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D002003:Brucella abortus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D017347:Brucella melitensis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D002006:Brucellosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D058751:Livestock / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D037521:Virulence Factors
keywords: Brucella abortus; Brucella melitensis; Human and livestock; Iran; Virulence genes