Biology subjects

Travis, E. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Travis, E. R..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2019

Environmental reservoirs of Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the Ruaha region, Tanzania

This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in the environment of pastoralists and villagers in the Iringa district, adjacent to the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania. Utilising specific qPCR assays, both Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis were detected in cattle faeces, boma soil, water and household dust. M. bovis was also found in goat faeces and goat boma soil. This is the first report of faecal shedding of M. bovis in goats and the first molecular survey of faecal shedding in cattle. The prevalence of both bacterial species varied by village, area, season and sample type. Geographical and temporal correlations across sample types were suggestive of cross species transmission. This non-invasive test has previously been rigorously validated for screening other mammals; in this study it has successfully been applied to detect M. bovis and M. tuberculosis in livestock faeces and the environment.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2019

LAMBDR: Long-range amplification and Nanopore sequencing of Mycobacterium bovis direct-repeat region. A novel method for in-silico spoligotyping of M. bovis directly from badger faeces.

The environment is an overlooked source of Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of bovine TB. Long read, end to end sequencing of variable repeat regions across the M. bovis genome was evaluated as a method of acquiring rapid strain level resolution directly from environmental samples. Eight samples of M. bovis, two BCG strains (Danish and Pasteur), and a single M. tuberculosis type culture (NCTC 13144) were used to generate data for this method. Long range PCR amplification of the direct repeat region was used to synthesize [~]5kb template DNA for onward sequence analysis. This has permitted culture independent identification of M. bovis spoligotypes present in the environment. Sequence level analysis of the direct repeat region showed that spoligotyping may underestimate strain diversity due to the inability to identify both SNPs and primer binding mutations using a biotinylated hybridisation approach.

molecular biology↗