The development and use of Actiphage® to detect viable mycobacteria from bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease-infected animals

Swift, B M C; Meade, N; Barron, E S; Bennett, M; Perehenic, T; Hughes, V; Stevenson, K; Rees, C E D

Abstract

Here, we describe the development of a method that exploits bacteriophage D29 as a lysis agent for efficient DNA extraction from low numbers of mycobacterial cells. This method (Actiphage®) used in combination with PCR achieved rapid and sensitive (LOD ≤ 10 cell ml−1) detection and identification of viable, pathogenic mycobacteria in blood samples within 6 h. We demonstrate that mycobacteriophage D29 can be used to detect a range of mycobacteria from clinical blood samples including both Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis without the need for culture and confirms our earlier observations that a low‐level bacteraemia is associated with these infections in cattle. In a study of M. bovis‐infected cattle (n = 41), the sensitivity of the Actiphage® method was 95 % (95 % CI; 0.84–0.99) and specificity was 100 % (95% CI; 0.92–1). We further used Actiphage® to demonstrate viable Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis is present in the blood of Johne’s infected cattle. This method provides a revolutionary new tool for the study of infections caused by these difficult to grow pathogens.

Citation

Swift, B. M. C., Meade, N., Barron, E. S., Bennett, M., Perehenic, T., Hughes, V., Stevenson, K., & Rees, C. E. D. (2019). The development and use of Actiphage® to detect viable mycobacteria from bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease-infected animals. Microbial Biotechnology, 13(3), 738-746. https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13518

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 14, 2019
• Publication Date: Dec 3, 2019
• Deposit Date: Dec 5, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 6, 2019
• Journal: Microbial Biotechnology
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-7915
• Publisher: Wiley Open Access
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 738-746
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13518
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1379438