Isolation and Characterization of Mycoplasma mycoides Subspecies capri from Milk of Natural Goat Mastitis Cases

Association of Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies capri (Mmc) with natural goat mastitis has been studied earlier largely by detecting the Mmc DNA using molecular methods. However, report on detection of cultivable Mmc isolates from natural goat-mastitis milk is still very rare. In this study, Mmc was isolated from milk samples ( ) of goats with or without clinical signs of mastitis. Mmc isolates were further characterized by biochemical and species-specific PCR methods. Intra species strain variation was also studied by 16S amplified rDNA restriction analysis (16S ARDRA). The study recovered a total of 6 Mmc isolates (3.5%). Three types of intraspecies variants among the recovered Mmc isolates were found by 16S ARDRA. The study concluded that Mmc may be an etiological agent of mycoplasmal mastitis in Indian goat herds. 1. Introduction Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. capri (Mmc) belongs to the “Mycoplasma mycoides” cluster (M. capricolum subsp. capricolum, M. capricolum subsp. capripneumoniae, M. mycoides subsp. mycoides large colony type (LC), M. mycoides subsp. mycoides small colony type (SC), Mycoplasma spp. bovine group 7, and Mmc) and is reported to cause a pattern of disease (mastitis, arthritis, keratoconjunctivitis, and pleuropneumonia) in goats, similar to those induced by the rest of the species of the mycoides cluster and other mycoplasmas, namely, M. agalactiae and M. putrefaciens [1, 2]. Mastitis is one of the manifestations of contagious agalactia (CA) [3] and is characterized by clinical signs like heat, pain, swelling, and redness in the udder besides alteration in milk (clot, flakes, discoloration, and reduction or complete cessation of milk yield). CA is prevalent in several regions of the world [4] by causing high morbidity (26.1–100%) in adult goats and 36.5 to 100% in kids [5] along with 25% and 90% mortality in adult goats and kids, respectively [6]. In goat-rearing units the economic loss may reach up to 15–20% [4]. Although M. agalactiae is known as the classical etiological agent of CA and/or mastitis, other species of the mycoides cluster have also been found to be associated with goat mastitis in different countries [7–9]. Very recently, Amores et al. [9] have detected Mmc using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from bulk tank milk which was collected from goats exhibiting clinical signs of mastitis from a CA endemic area. However, there is no report about the isolation of Mmc from natural goat’s mastitis except for the experimental study of Misri et al. [2] and D’Angelo et al. [10]. In view of the dearth of information on the