Identification of a new genetic marker in Mycoplasma synoviae vaccine strain MS-H and development of a strategy using polymerase chain reaction and high-resolution melting curve analysis for differentiating MS-H from field strains

Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) is an economically important avian pathogen worldwide, causing subclinical respiratory tract infection and infectious synovitis in chickens and turkeys. A temperature-sensitive (ts+) live attenuated vaccine MS-H, derived from the Australian field strain 86079/7NS, is now widely used in many countries to control the disease induced by MS. Differentiation of MS-H vaccine from field strains is crucial for monitoring vaccination programs in commercial poultry. Comparison of genomic sequences of MS-H and its parent strain revealed an adenine deletion at nucleotide position 468 of the MS-H oppF-1 gene. This mutation was shown to be unique to MS-H in further comparative analyses of oppF-1 genes of MS-H re-isolates and field strains from Australia and other countries. Based on this single nucleotide, a combination of nested PCR and high-resolution melting (HRM) curve analysis was used to evaluate its potential for use in differentiation of MS-H from field strains. The mean genotype confidence percentages of 99.27 and 48.20 for MS-H and field strains, respectively, demonstrated the high discriminative power of the newly developed assay (oppF PCR-HRM). A set of 13 tracheal swab samples collected from MS-H vaccinated specific pathogen free birds and commercial chicken flocks infected with MS were tested using the oppF PCR-HRM test and results were totally consistent with those obtained using vlhA genotyping. The nested-PCR HRM method established in this study proved to be a rapid, simple and cost effective tool for discriminating the MS-H vaccine strain from Australian and international strains in pure cultures and on tracheal swabs.