Occurrence of mycoplasmas in semen samples of birds of prey

Michael Lierz (1) , Hafez Mohamed Hafez (2)

1 Institute for Poultry Diseases
2 Poultry Diseases

Mycoplasmas are well known pathogens in a variety of animals. In poultry it is known, that they can be transmitted by semen and infect the uterus of females. As the prevalence of mycoplasmas in birds of prey is very high and artificial insemination is a common used technique in bird of prey reproduction, the possibility of Mycoplasma transmission by contaminated semen in birds of prey was investigated. Isolation of mycoplasmas was possible in 5 of 32 (15.6%) semen samples of different bird of prey species. Two additional semen samples were detected positive for mycoplasmal DNA using a Mycoplasma- genus- specific PCR. The isolation of mycoplasmas from a testicular sample indicates the testis as the possible source of contamination. Sequencing of large parts (>90%) of the 16S rRNA gene of the isolated mycoplasmas suggests that all isolates belong to the same species. Alignment of the sequenced products with the 16S rRNA gene of Mycoplasma species in GenBank demonstrated a similarity of 97% to M. verecundum, but serological testing showed antigenetic differences. The examination of bird of prey semen donors for the occurrence of Mycoplasma contaminated semen is recommended.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Michael Lierz, Hafez Mohamed Hafez. Occurrence of mycoplasmas in semen samples of birds of prey. Avian Pathology, 2008, 37 (05), pp.495-497. ⟨10.1080/03079450802356961⟩. ⟨hal-00540130⟩