Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (12): 4346-4355.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2022.12.020

• PREVENTIVE VETERINARY MEDICINE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Isolation and Genomic Characterization of a Meningitis Causing Pasteurella multocida

WANG Fei1,2, YANG Jie1,2, Lü Qingjie1,2, WANG Mixue1,2, LIU Peng1,2, ZHANG Ruoyu1,2, SHI Congcong1,2, WANG Xueying1,2, LIN Lin1,2, HUA Lin1,2, SONG Wenbo1,2, LIANG Wan1,2, CHEN Huanchun1,2, WU Bin1,2*, PENG Zhong1,2,3*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China;
    2. The Cooperative Innovation Center for Sustainable Pig Production, Wuhan 430070, China;
    3. Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Wuhan 430070, China
  • Received:2022-01-10 Online:2022-12-23 Published:2022-12-25

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the biological characteristics of a meningitis causing Pasteurella multocida and the biological basis for this bacterium causing brain infections. Serum bactericidal tests, intracellular survival tests, mouse infection tests, and nanopore sequencing were performed on a P. multocida strain SD001 which was isolated from the brain of a pig with neurological symptoms. Results were as follows: Compared to those of P. multocida isolates from the other organs of pigs, SD001 displayed a stronger anti-serum bactericidal capacity, and a stronger capacity of surviving in mouse macrophages. In mouse models, SD001 formed a higher bacterial load in both blood and brain than a pneumonic P. multocida strain at the same time points post challenge, and the challenge of SD001 led to inflammatory and other pathological damages in the experimental mice. These findings suggest that SD001 may cause bloodstream infections and meningitis animals. Results from nanopore sequencing revealed that the complete genome sequence of SD001 was 2.45 Mb in size, with an average GC content of 40.25%. The complete genome of SD001 encoded 2 281 putative proteins and 77 RNAs. It also contained two CRISPR sequences, five genomic islands, seven prophages, and 233 virulence factor encoding genes. Genotyping using the complete genome sequence showed that SD001 belonged to capsular: LPS: MLST type A: L6: ST10. SD001 infection could cause meningitis and its strong capacity of anti-serum bactericidal activity as well as inducing bloodstream infection may confer the bacterium capacity of causing brain infections. P. multocida infection should be considered for the diagnosis of brain infections in veterinary clinical settings.

Key words: Pasteurella multocida, meningitis, pig, serum bactericidal test, intracellular survival test, mouse infection test, nanopore sequencing

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