Isolation, characterization and genetic sequencing of Coxiella burnetii strains from Brazil

• Grant number: 19/05300-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: January 01, 2020
• End date: October 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Jane Megid
• Grantee: Mateus de Souza Ribeiro Mioni
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Coxiella burnetii is the causative agent of Q fever, a zoonotic disease with a worldwide distribution that, due to the characteristics of the bacterium, can cause long-term epidemic outbreaks with large numbers of infected individuals. The epidemiological situation of Q fever is unknown in Brazil, however, human cases of the disease have been described in the States of Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. In addition, the detection of the bacterium in wild animals and livestock was also reported as well as the characterization of new genotypes evidenced by our group. The main objective of the present work is the isolation and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of C. burnetii strains circulating in Brazil, steps that can help in the understanding of clinical disease and in the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests in Brazil, and as secondary objectives (1) to perform the quantitative detection of C. burnetii by real-time PCR in samples of vaginal swab collected in the postpartum period of animals from herds with reproductive problems; (2) to evaluate the occurrence of C. burnetii different regions of Brazil (South, Southeast, Midwest, and North/Northeast); (3) to identify, through the genotyping of the positive samples in the qPCR, the different genotypes circulating in the national territory; (4) isolate C. burnetii from clinical specimens, a step that may help in future virulence studies; (5) WGS of C. burnetii strains and compare it with the different strains of C. burnetii already published in the international literature, aiming at an analysis of its virulence potential. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RIBEIRO MIONI, MATEUS DE SOUZA; COSTA, FRANCISCO BORGES; DEVIDE RIBEIRO, BRUNA LETICIA; REIS TEIXEIRA, WANDERSON SIRLEY; PELICIA, VANESSA CRISTINA; LABRUNA, MARCELO BAHIA; ROUSSET, ELODIE; SIDI-BOUMEDINE, KARIM; THIERY, RICHARD; MEGID, JANE. Coxiella burnetii in slaughterhouses in Brazil: A public health concern. PLoS One, v. 15, n. 10, OCT 30 2020. (19/05300-9)