Genomic and Virulence Profiling of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae Isolated from Widespread Muskox Mortalities in Arctic Archipelago ...

• Main Author: Seru, Lakshmi Vineesha
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Graduate Studies 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; muskoxen; mortality; Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae; virulence genes; pathogenicity islands; prophages; pan-genome wide association studies; Veterinary Science; Arctic Archipelago; Ellesmere Island; muskox; Prince Patrick Island
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/dspace/40953; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/116107

Muskoxen are an important food and economic resource for the indigenous people in the Canadian Arctic; however, in recent years this species has experienced substantial disease-related population declines. A single strain (‘Arctic clone’) of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae was associated with mass mortalities of muskoxen on Banks and Victoria Islands in 2010-2013, and various wild species on Prince Patrick Island in 2017. In 2021, an outbreak of E. rhusiopathiae was reported for the first time in muskoxen on Ellesmere Island. The predominance of the Arctic clone in the Arctic raises the question of virulence of this lineage. Objectives of this study were to characterize E. rhusiopathiae isolates from Ellesmere Island and identify amino acid sequence variations among 17 virulence genes, pathogenicity islands and prophages among 28 Arctic clone and 31 other closely related E. rhusiopathiae genomes. In addition, unique genetic contents of the Arctic clone that may encode virulence traits were determined via ...