Aspergillosis, a Natural Infection in Poultry: Mycological and Molecular Characterization and Determination of Gliotoxin in Aspergillus fumigatus Isolates.

Verónica Montes de Oca, Sara Esther Valdés, Carolina Segundo, Gabriela Guadalupe Gómez, José Ramírez, Roberto Arnulfo Cervantes

Avian diseases 2017 Mar

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Aspergillosis affects all types of birds; it causes the loss of specimens with high ecologic value and also leads to significant economic losses within the poultry industry. The main etiologic agent is Aspergillus fumigatus , a filamentary fungus with multiple virulence factors, such as gliotoxin (GT), which is an immunosuppressive epipolythiodioxopiperazine molecule. Necropsy was performed on 73 poultry from different provenances, all of which presented with a respiratory semiology compatible with aspergillosis. A mycological culture was performed on the injured lungs of diseased birds, as was chloroform extraction of the GT, a thin-layer chromatography analysis (TLC), and a histopathology analysis with hematoxylin-eosin and Grocott stainings. The A. fumigatus identification was confirmed by PCR, where the ITS 1 5.1-5.8S-ITS 2 fragment of the rDNA complex was amplified. The in vitro GT production was studied by TLC in the recovered isolates from A. fumigatus . Seven isolates of A. fumigatus were obtained and in six of them, GT-like compounds were detected. In a lung sample, a compound with the same retention time (RF) as the reference GT was detected; whereas RF compounds different from the GT standard were observed in three lung samples.

Citation

Verónica Montes de Oca, Sara Esther Valdés, Carolina Segundo, Gabriela Guadalupe Gómez, José Ramírez, Roberto Arnulfo Cervantes. Aspergillosis, a Natural Infection in Poultry: Mycological and Molecular Characterization and Determination of Gliotoxin in Aspergillus fumigatus Isolates. Avian diseases. 2017 Mar;61(1):77-82