Abstract
Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is the etiological agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, which causes significant losses in industrialized swine production worldwide. Bacterial diagnosis of contagious porcine pleuropneumonia is generally done by bacteriological isolation and cultivation of A. pleuropneumoniae, followed by serological typing which differentiates 15 serotypes (1–3). There are significant differences in virulence among the 15 serotypes. Serotypes 1,5, and also 9 and 11 are involved in particularly severe outbreaks of disease with high mortality and severe pulmonary lesions. Serotypes 2-4, 6-8, 12, and 15 are generally less virulent, causing moderate mortality but relatively strong lung lesions. Serotype 3 seems to be mostly of low epidemiological importance, while the remaining serotypes are isolated only very rarely. The degree of virulence seems to be mainly due to the presence of one or two of the pore-forming RTX toxins ApxI, ApxII, and ApxIII, found in A. pleuropneumoniae, which characterize the different serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae (4,5) (see Table 1). Toxin ApxI is encoded by the genes apxICABD, with gene A specifying the structural protein toxin, C coding for its activator, and B and D coding for the corresponding type I secretion pathway. ApxI is produced and secreted by the highly pathogenic serotypes 1, 5, 9, and 11, and also in serotype 10 and 14 of A. pleuropneumoniae. ApxII, encoded by apxIICA, is produced by all serotypes except 10 and 14.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Taylor, D. J. ( 1999) Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, in Diseases of swine, (Straw, B. E., D’Allaire, S., Mengeling, W. L., and Taylor, D. J., ), Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA, USA, pp. 343–354.
Nielsen, R. Andresen, L. O., Plambeck, T., Nielsen, J. P., Krarup, L. Y., Jorsal, S. E. (1997) Serological characterization of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae biotype 2 strains isolated from pigs in two Danish herds. Vet. Microbiol. 54, 35–46.
Blackall, P. J., Klaasen, H. B. L. M., van den Bosch, H., Kuhnert, P., and Frey, J. (2001) Proposal of a new serovar of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae: serovar 15. Vet.Microbiol. 84, 47–52.
Frey, J. (1995) Virulence in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and RTX toxins. Trends Microbiol. 3, 257–261.
Beck, M., Vandenbosch, J. F., Jongenelen, I. M. C. A., Loeffen, P. L. W., Nielsen, R., Nicolet, J., and Frey, J. (1994) RTX toxin genotypes and phenotypes in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae field strains. J. Clin. Microbiol. 32, 2749–2754.
Schaller, A., Kuhnert, P., De la Puente-Redondo, V. A., Nicolet, J., and Frey, J. (2000) Apx toxins in Pasteurellaceae species from animals. Vet. Microbiol. 74, 365–376.
Schaller, A., Kuhn, R., Kuhnert, P., Nicolet, J., et al. (1999) Characterization of apxIVA, a new RTX determinant of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. Microbiology 145, 2105–2116.
Frey, J., Beck, M., Vandenbosch, J. F., Segers, R. P. A. M., and Nicolet, J. (1995) Development of an efficient PCR method for toxin typing of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae strains. Mol. Cell. Probes 9, 277–282.
Schaller, A., Djordjevic, S. P., Eamens, G. J., et al. (2001) Identification and detection of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae by PCR based on the gene apxIVA. Vet. Microbiol. 79, 47–62.
Ausubel, F. M., Brent, R., Kingston, R. E., et al. (1999) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, USA.
Fussing, V., Paster, B. J., Dewhirst, F. E., and Poulsen., L. K. (1998) Differentiation of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae strains by sequence analysis of 16S rDNA and ribosomal intergenic regions, and development of a species specific oligonucleotide for in situ detection. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 21, 408–418.
Gram, T., Ahrens, P., and Nielsen, J. P. (1996) Evaluation of a PCR for detection of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae in mixed bacterial cultures from tonsils. Vet. Microbiol. 51, 95–104.
Gram, T., and Ahrens, P. (1998) Improved diagnostic PCR assay for Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae based on the nucleotide sequence of an outer membrane lipoprotein. J. Clin. Microbiol. 36, 443–448.
Hernanz, M. C., Cascon, S. A., Sanchez, S. M., Yugueros, J., Suarez, R. S., and Naharro, C. G. (1999) Molecular cloning and sequencing of the aroA gene from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and its use in a PCR assay for rapid identification. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37, 1575–1578.
Sirois, M., Lemire, E. G., and Levesque, R. C. (1991) Construction of a DNA probe and detection of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae by using polymerase chain reaction. J. Clin. Microbiol. 29, 1183–1187.
Lo, T. M., Ward, C. K., and Inzana T. J. (1998) Detection and identification of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae serotype 5 by multiplex PCR. J. Clin. Microbiol. 36, 1704–1710.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Frey, J. (2003). Detection, Identification, and Subtyping of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. In: Sachse, K., Frey, J. (eds) PCR Detection of Microbial Pathogens. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 216. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-344-5:87
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-344-5:87
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-049-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-344-6
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols