TY - JOUR
T1 - Population structure and transmission of Mycobacterium bovis in Ethiopia
AU - Almaw, Gizat
AU - Mekonnen, Getnet Abie
AU - Mihret, Adane
AU - Aseffa, Abraham
AU - Taye, Hawult
AU - Conlan, Andrew J.K.
AU - Gumi, Balako
AU - Zewude, Aboma
AU - Aliy, Abde
AU - Tamiru, Mekdes
AU - Olani, Abebe
AU - Lakew, Matios
AU - Sombo, Melaku
AU - Gebre, Solomon
AU - Diguimbaye, Colette
AU - Hilty, Markus
AU - Fané, Adama
AU - Müller, Borna
AU - Hewinson, R. Glyn
AU - Ellis, Richard J.
AU - Nunez-Garcia, Javier
AU - Palkopoulou, Eleftheria
AU - Abebe, Tamrat
AU - Ameni, Gobena
AU - Parkhill, Julian
AU - Wood, James L.N.
AU - ETHICOBOTS Consortium
AU - Berg, Stefan
AU - van Tonder, Andries J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by the Ethiopia Control of Bovine Tuberculosis Strategies (ETHICOBOTS) project funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Department for International Development, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Natural Environment Research Council and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, under the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) program, ref: BB/L018977/1. Stefan Berg was also funded by Defra, UK, ref: TBSE3294. Glyn Hewinson holds a Sêr Cymru II Research Chair funded by the European Research Development Fund and Welsh Government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors.
PY - 2021/5/4
Y1 - 2021/5/4
N2 - Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is endemic in cattle in Ethiopia, a country that hosts the largest national cattle herd in Africa. The intensive dairy sector, most of which is peri-urban, has the highest prevalence of disease. Previous studies in Ethiopia have demonstrated that the main cause is Mycobacterium bovis, which has been investigated using conventional molecular tools including deletion typing, spoligotyping and Mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR). Here we use whole-genome sequencing to examine the population structure of M. bovis in Ethiopia. A total of 134 M. bovis isolates were sequenced including 128 genomes from 85 mainly dairy cattle and six genomes isolated from humans, originating from 12 study sites across Ethiopia. These genomes provided a good representation of the previously described population structure of M. bovis, based on spoligotyping and demonstrated that the population is dominated by the clonal complexes African 2 (Af2) and European 3 (Eu3). A range of within-host diversity was observed amongst the isolates and evidence was found for both short- and long-distance transmission. Detailed analysis of available genomes from the Eu3 clonal complex combined with previously published genomes revealed two distinct introductions of this clonal complex into Ethiopia between 1950 and 1987, likely from Europe. This work is important to help better understand bTB transmission in cattle in Ethiopia and can potentially inform national strategies for bTB control in Ethiopia and beyond.
AB - Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is endemic in cattle in Ethiopia, a country that hosts the largest national cattle herd in Africa. The intensive dairy sector, most of which is peri-urban, has the highest prevalence of disease. Previous studies in Ethiopia have demonstrated that the main cause is Mycobacterium bovis, which has been investigated using conventional molecular tools including deletion typing, spoligotyping and Mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR). Here we use whole-genome sequencing to examine the population structure of M. bovis in Ethiopia. A total of 134 M. bovis isolates were sequenced including 128 genomes from 85 mainly dairy cattle and six genomes isolated from humans, originating from 12 study sites across Ethiopia. These genomes provided a good representation of the previously described population structure of M. bovis, based on spoligotyping and demonstrated that the population is dominated by the clonal complexes African 2 (Af2) and European 3 (Eu3). A range of within-host diversity was observed amongst the isolates and evidence was found for both short- and long-distance transmission. Detailed analysis of available genomes from the Eu3 clonal complex combined with previously published genomes revealed two distinct introductions of this clonal complex into Ethiopia between 1950 and 1987, likely from Europe. This work is important to help better understand bTB transmission in cattle in Ethiopia and can potentially inform national strategies for bTB control in Ethiopia and beyond.
KW - Bovine tuberculosis
KW - Ethiopia
KW - livestock
KW - transmission
KW - whole genome sequencing
KW - Mycobacterium bovis/genetics
KW - Europe
KW - Genotype
KW - Ethiopia/epidemiology
KW - Minisatellite Repeats
KW - Whole Genome Sequencing
KW - Animals
KW - Cattle
KW - Bacterial Typing Techniques
KW - Tuberculosis, Bovine/epidemiology
KW - Livestock
KW - Sequence Analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105432093&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1099/mgen.0.000539
DO - 10.1099/mgen.0.000539
M3 - Article
C2 - 33945462
AN - SCOPUS:85105432093
SN - 2057-5858
VL - 7
JO - Microbial Genomics
JF - Microbial Genomics
IS - 5
M1 - 000539
ER -
