09. Molecular characterization of songbird Mycoplasma gallisepticum isolates

Abstract

Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) is a pathogenic bacterium that infects respiratory organs and causes infectious sinusitis and conjunctivitis in both wild and domestic avian populations. Previous research by our group evaluated the effectiveness of detecting MG in songbirds using Flinders Technology Associates filter paper (FTAⓇ cards). Our research found them to be as reliable and more cost effective than traditional tissue sampling methods. Our goal for this project is to sequence the positive samples and be able to better understand the molecular differences in MG strains between songbirds and other avian species. Sequencing will be carried out by first cleaning DNA samples to acquire pure PCR products using Qiagen’s PCR amplicon clean-up kit. Following clean-up the pure PCR products will be sent for sequencing to GENEWIZ. The results from GENEWIZ will be analyzed by us using MEGA-X, where we can compare similarities or differences between our strains to known isolates.