First report of MIRU-VNTR genotyping of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates from Egypt.

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease, an economically important disease in ruminants worldwide. It was first isolated in Egypt in 2005. Since then, the pathogen has been detected in different Egyptian provinces. In order to trace the source of infection, genotyping using simple methods of high discriminatory power such as mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit-variable number tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) were carried out in different countries. Until now there is no published information about MIRU-VNTR genotyping of MAP isolates in Egypt. To address that point, 100 faecal samples were collected and cultivated from 3 different suspected dairy farms. Fourteen isolates belonging to one farm were identified as MAP and subjected to genotyping using 8 different MIRU-VNTR loci PCRs. Two different genotypes were recognized based on size polymorphism observed in one locus (VNTR-7) that was confirmed by sequencing. Our work provides a preliminary basis of constructing a MIRU-VNTR genotyping database of MAP in Egypt.