Genotyping of <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subsp. <i>avium</i> isolates from domestic animals in Slovenia by IS<i>901</i> RFLP

Apart from birds, <I>Mycobacterium avium</I> subsp. <I>avium (MAA) </I> is often isolated from granulomatous lesions in pigs and occasionally from cattle and other animals. The objectives of this study were the detection of IS<I>901</I> restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) types of <I>MAA</I> isolates from different species of domestic animals between the years 1998 and 2004 and the comparison of the detected RFLP types with previously described RFLP types collected in the database of the OIE Reference Laboratory for Avian Tuberculosis (Brno, Czech Republic). Furthermore, the RFLP types of the isolates obtained from <I>MAA</I> outbreaks on one of the largest pig farms in Slovenia were also investigated. A total of 62 isolates (56 from pigs, five from poultry and one from cattle) were identified with IS<I>901</I> PCR and IS<I>901</I> RFLP typed using restriction endonucleases <I>Pvu</I>II and <I>Pst</I>I. Seven <I>Pvu</I>II RFLP and 11 <I>Pst</I>I RFLP types resulted in 12 combined <I>Pvu</I>II <I>Pst</I>I types; none of these matched the combined RFLP types described in previous studies. Our contributions to the database were two new <I>Pvu</I>II and eight new <I>Pst</I>I RFLP types. Identical RFLP types were found among isolates of animals originating from individual farms. Finding of identical RFLP types within a farm is not surprising because the animals were epidemiologically related and infected with one strain. A unique RFLP type F-A17 was detected in isolates from different pig herds and also in isolates from poultry. Detection of identical RFLP types on different farms may reflect one <I>MAA</I> source. The other combined <I>Pvu</I>II <I>Pst</I>I RFLP types were identified only once which indicates considerable variety of <I>MAA</I> RFLP types in Slovenia.