Assessment of Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis molecular diagnosis using clinical samples of bulls

BACKGROUND: Campylobacter fetus subsp. venerealis (Cfv) is the pathogen responsible for Bovine Genital Campylobacteriosis (BGC), a venereal disease of cattle associated with impaired reproductive performance. Although several PCR assays were developed to identify this pathogen, most of them are still poorly evaluated in clinical samples. This study evaluated real-time PCR assays for Cfv detection in preputial samples of bulls (n = 308). RESULTS: The detection at the subspecies level (Cfv) compared four assays: two targeting ISCfe1 and two targeting parA gene. The detection at the species level (C. fetus) considered an assay targeting the nahE gene and a commercial kit for C. fetus identification. At the subspecies level, assays directed either to different targets (parA and ISCfe1), or to the same target (ISCfe1 or parA), showed a high percentage of disagreeing results. All samples positive at the subspecies level (n = 169) were negative in C. fetus detection assays, which strongly suggests the horizontal gene transfer of ISCfe1 and parA to other bacterial species. This was confirmed by microbiological isolation of three Campylobacter portucalensis strains responsible for false positive results. Sequences with a high level of identity with ISCfe1 and parA gene of Cfv were identified in C. portucalensis genome. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study reveals that PCR assays solely directed to a subspecies target originate a high rate of false positive results, due to the presence of parA and ISCfe1 homologous sequences in other bacterial species, namely of the genus Campylobacter. Although the specificity of these methods may be higher if applied to bulls from herds with clinical features of BGC or in other geographical regions, current PCR diagnosis should couple subspecies and species targets, and further research must be envisaged to identify Cfv specific molecular targets. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12917-020-02634-7.