Identification of a Fusobacterium necrophorum isolate that contains a new variant of the leukotoxin gene (lktA) from the hoof of a sheep with ovine footrot

Abstract

The finding of previously un-identified variant forms of the leukotoxin gene (lktA) from Fusobacterium necrophorum (F. necrophorum) isolates retrieved from the hooves of sheep, goats and cattle with footrot (Zhou et al., 2009) suggests that our understanding of this bacterium is still limited. While previously four different lktA variants of F. necrophorum were identified from footrot lesions, the extent of diversity for this bacterium awaited further investigation as the number of footrot samples studied was relatively low and all the samples were sourced from one country. It seemed likely that as more F. necrophorum samples from different geographical regions were investigated, that more lktA variants of F. necrophorum would be found.