Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Small Ruminant Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/smallrumres Insights into the genome sequence of ovine Pasteurella multocida type A strain associated with pneumonic pasteurellosis Swati Sahay a,c , Rajeswari Shome a , Jagadesan Sankarasubramanian b , Udayakumar S. Vishnu b , Awadhesh Prajapati a , Krithiga Natesan a , Bibek Ranjan Shome a , Habibur Rahman d , Jeyaprakash Rajendhran b, ⁎ a Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics (ICAR- NIVEDI), Yelahanka, Bengaluru, 56064, India b Dept. of Genetics, School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 625 021, India c Dept. of Microbiology, Centre for Research in Pure and Applied Sciences, Jain University, Bangalore, 560011, India d International Livestock Research Institute, Block-C, First Floor, NASC Complex, CG Centre, New Delhi, 110 012, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Pasteurella multocida type A Genome Genomic Islands Virulence genes Phages Sheep ABSTRACT Pasteurella multocida is a causative agent of pneumonic pasteurellosis in ruminants. Bovine and porcine strains of P. multocida have been sequenced and analyzed worldwide. However limited genomic information is available on ovine strains involved in causation of pneumonic pasteurellosis. Therefore, the present study focused on genome sequencing and analysis of a P. multocida type A isolate recovered from respiratory infection of sheep to unravel the genetic contents and its involvement in the disease. P. multocida type A strain NIVEDI/PMS-1 genome was 2,543,931bp in size, assembled into 67 contigs, con- sisted of 1879 protein-coding regions, 19 genomic islands (GIs) and 10 phage regions. The identified GIs and phage regions showed high sequence identity mostly with other Pasteurellaceae family respiratory pathogens indicating horizontal gene transfer in ovine respiratory niche. The phylogenetic analysis revealed strain NIVEDI/ PMS-1 as closest neighbor to P. multocida P1933 strain reported from bovine. Comparative genomic analysis of strain NIVEDI/PMS-1 with virulent GX-Pm and avirulent Pm70 strains revealed presence of 45 virulence genes common with virulent strain. Further, various virulence factors and accessory genes needed for survival and pathogenesis were also identified. Dermonecrotic toxin (ToxA) like protein presence in the strain appears in- teresting and further study is needed to understand its role in ovine pasteurellosis. 1. Introduction Pneumonic pasteurellosis is an economically significant infectious disease of ruminants, and the main etiological agent is Pasteurella multocida, a non-hemolytic, Gram-negative, coccobacillus, bipolar and capsulated Pasteurelleaceae family bacterium (Boyce et al., 2010). Based on capsular and somatic antigens, five serogroups (A, B, D, E, and F) and 16 serotypes were identified, respectively (Carter, 1967; Heddleston et al., 1972). P. multocida can infect a wide range of animals including haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS) in bovines, fowl cholera in poultry, atrophic rhinitis in pigs, snuffles in rabbits and pneumonic pasteurellosis in small ruminants (Harper et al., 2006). Pneumonic pasteurellosis in sheep also called epizootic pneumonia and clinical manifestation includes dyspnoea, pyrexia, mucopurulent nasal dis- charge and mortality during the outbreak (Miller et al., 2011). P. mul- tocida also act as a secondary pathogen and cause infection in immunocompromised host (Du et al., 2016). Recently, human infec- tions of P. multocida from animal bites, scratches and respiratory ex- posure were reported (Wilson and Ho, 2013).The pathogenicity of P. multocida is complex and mediated by various virulence factors such as capsules, lipopolysaccharides (LPS), adhesins, toxins, siderophores, fimbriae, hyaluronidase, iron acquisition and regulation proteins, sialic acid metabolism and outer membrane proteins (Omps) (Harper et al., 2006). Improper use of antibiotics due to ineffective im- munoprophylactic measure for the disease lead to the development of antibiotic resistance in P. multocida (Kehrenberg et al., 2001). Recently, genome sequencing of a large number of P. multocida strains has facilitated a better understanding of pathogenesis and geo- graphical relatedness (Moustafa et al., 2015). First complete genome sequence of an avian P. multocida Pm70, serotype F revealed basic genomic structure with series of genes involved in virulence, iron up- take, oxidative pentose phosphate, Entner–Doudoroff pathways, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2018.10.004 Received 8 July 2018; Received in revised form 5 October 2018; Accepted 7 October 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: jrajendhran@gmail.com (J. Rajendhran). Small Ruminant Research 169 (2018) 167–175 Available online 10 October 2018 0921-4488/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T