Journal article

Nanopore Sequencing Using the Full-Length 16S rRNA Gene for Detection of Blood-Borne Bacteria in Dogs Reveals a Novel Species of Hemotropic Mycoplasma

LG Huggins, V Colella, U Atapattu, AV Koehler, RJ Traub

Microbiology Spectrum | AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY | Published : 2022

Open access

Abstract

Dogs across the globe are afflicted by diverse blood- and vector-borne bacteria (VBB), many of which cause severe disease and can be fatal. Diagnosis of VBB infections can be challenging due to the low concentration of bacteria in the blood, the frequent occurrence of coinfections, and the wide range of known, emerging, and potentially novel VBB species encounterable. Therefore, there is a need for diagnostics that address these challenges by being both sensitive and capable of detecting all VBB simultaneously. We detail the first employment of a nanopore-based sequencing methodology conducted on the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION device to accurately elucidate the “hemobacteriome..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

We are greatly indebted to Ross Hall (Melbourne Veterinary School) for support with bioinformatic processing and analysis. We also thank Chandika Gamage (University of Peradeniya), Gad Baneth (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), John Stenos (Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory), Jan Slapeta (University of Sydney), Shimon Harrus (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), and Yaarit Nachum-Biala (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) for providing positive-control samples that were invaluable to the diagnostic validation conducted. This study was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship scheme under grant no. FT200100732.