Phylogenetic and molecular analysis based on genes 16S-rRNA, OMPA and POMP to identify Chlamydia abortus infection occurrence at the milk samples of goats and sheep in west Azerbaijan of Iran

Background and objectives: Enzootic abortion in sheep and goats, also called ovine enzootic abortion (OEA) or enzootic abortion of ewes (EAE), is caused by Chlamydia abortus. The disease has a major economic impact as it represents the most important cause of lamb loss in sheep in parts of Europe, North America and Africa. This serious and potentially life-threatening zoonosis can also affect pregnant women after contact with lambing ewes, leading to severe febrile illness in pregnancy and loss of the foetus.

Materials and methods: The present study was conducted to the Phylogenetic and Molecular Analysis based on Genes 16S-rRNA, OmpA and POMP of C. abortus in milk samples collected from sheep and goats in West Azerbaijan province, Iran. During 2018, a total number of 360 milk samples were collected from sheep (n = 180) and goats (n = 180) of different regions of the province. All milk samples were subjected to DNA extraction and examined by PCR.

Results: Among 360 milk samples collected from sheep and goats, 31 (8.611%; 95% CI=6.13-11.96) were positive for Chlamydia spp. The helicase, 16S-rRNA and ompA genes were examined and resulted in 8, 31, 31 of positive samples respectively. The accession numbers have been deposited in GenBank (NCBI) (MT367602 and MT367603).

Conclusion: Phylogenetic analysis based on the gene of helicase showed that most of the isolates shared similarity > 99.97%.