Novel hemoplasma species detected in free-ranging sika deer (Cervus nippon).

Hemoplasma infections in wild ungulates have not been reported yet in Japan. We examined presence of hemoplasmas in blood samples collected from 147 sika deer (Cervus nippon) in the Iwate prefecture by real-time PCR, and found 13 (9%) were positive. Almost entire region of the 16S rRNA gene of the representative strains from positive samples was amplified by conventional PCR. The nucleotide sequences of the 16S rRNA gene were further determined and compared with those of other hemoplasmas. Our examinations 1st revealed the presence of 2 distinct hemoplasma species in sika deer, which are previously not described. One of them was closely related to M. ovis by the 16S rRNA sequence analysis, but was found distinct by comparison of the RNase P RNA gene sequences. Pathogenicity of these two hemoplasma species in sika deer is currently unknown.