%0 Journal Article
%T Phenotypical and Genotypical Properties of an Arcanobacterium pluranimalium Strain Isolated from a Juvenile Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata)
%A Karin Risse
%A Karen Schlez
%A Tobias Eisenberg
%A Christina Geiger
%A Anna Balbutskaya
%A Osama Sammra
%A Christoph L£¿mmler
%A Amir Abdulmawjood
%J Journal of Veterinary Medicine
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/408724
%X The present study was designed to characterize phenotypically and genotypically an Arcanobacterium pluranimalium strain (A. pluranimalium 4868) following necropsy from a juvenile giraffe. The species identity could be confirmed by phenotypical investigations and by MALDI-TOF MS analysis, by sequencing the 16S rDNA, pluranimaliumlysin encoding gene pla, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase encoding gene gap with sequence similarities to A. pluranimalium reference strain DSM 13483T of 99.2%, 89.9%, and 99.1%, respectively. To our knowledge, the present study is the first phenotypic and genotypic characterization of an A. pluranimalium strain isolated from a giraffe. 1. Introduction Genus Arcanobacterium was described by Collins et al. 1982 [1] as a group of facultative anaerobic, asporogenous, and Gram-stain positive rods. According to Yassin et al. (2011) [2], this genus consists of four species, namely, Arcanobacterium haemolyticum, Arcanobacterium hippocoleae, Arcanobacterium phocae, and Arcanobacterium pluranimalium. More recently, Arcanobacterium canis and Arcanobacterium phocisimile, two species which were most closely related to A. haemolyticum, were described as novel species of this genus [3, 4]. The original species characterization of A. pluranimalium was performed with two strains isolated from a dead harbour porpoise and a dead fallow deer [5]. In the following years A. pluranimalium could also be isolated from a dog with pyoderma [6], from ovine specimens on 33 occasions, and from a milk sample of a single cow with mastitis [7]. More recently several A. pluranimalium strains recovered from various specimens were identified phenotypically and by using various molecular targets [8]. 2. Material and Methods The present study was focused on the characterization of an A. pluranimalium strain following necropsy from a juvenile giraffe by various phenotypic properties, by MALDI-TOF MS analysis, and genotypically by sequencing 16S rDNA and the A. pluranimalium-specific target genes pla and gap. The 80.5£¿kg female giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) of the present study was born in 2013. The giraffe was not accepted by its mother or wet nurse and did not accept hand rearing attempts and, because of general weakness, was euthanized three days after birth. The subsequent postmortem analysis revealed an acute hyperemia of lung and liver and a focal emphysema of the lung. The acute pneumonia was caused by a bacterial infection associated with aspirated foreign bodies. Bacteriological investigations yielded the isolation of A.
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jvm/2014/408724/