Caracterización molecular de antígenos en patógenos causantes de mastitis bovina: Implicaciones para el diseño de un candidato vacunal

Abstract

Abstract: Bovine mastitis represents one of the most important challenges in the livestock industry, not only because it affects the productivity and quality of milk on farms, but also because it is a serious public health problem due to the use of antibiotics for its control and the consequent emergenceof resistant pathogens. The aim of the study was to molecularly characterize pathogens obtained from milk samples of cows positive diagnosed for mastitis, in order to, firstly, identify virulence and resistance genes in these pathogens. The genetic information obtained from pathogens in animals positive diagnosed for mastitis can be used to identify target structures for a multivalent vaccine candidate against mastitis. In the evaluated samples, mainly bacterial strains of the Staphylococcusgenus were identified, where the presence of the femB gene associated with antibiotic resistance was determined. The bioinformatic analysis of the obtained femB sequences, reported the presence of at least three negative selection codons, which conform a conserved 3D epitope. The knowledge generated in the present study in highly relevant because it i) allowed us to determine the main pathogen occurring in the Loja province, and ii) a molecular target was identified to be used in a multivalent vaccine strategy.