Isolation and molecular characterization of Mycoplasma synoviae from chicken.

Samples (425) were collected for the isolation of Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) from chicken from commercial and government poultry farms from different parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu from both live and dead birds in Frey’s mycoplasma broth. The species specific PCR was standardized for the detection of MS from chicken. Among 425 samples collected, 153 broth tubes showed characteristic signs of growth. Of the 153 broth tubes, 46 tubes were plated onto Frey’s agar medium. Of these, only 27 broth tubes showed typical colonies characteristic of Mycoplasma species. The DNA was extracted from 153 tubes using commercially available kits and subjected for polymerase chain reaction to amplify 16S rRNA gene of MS with a set of published primer sequences. Of the 153 samples, only 3 samples yielded amplicon size of 207 bp specific for MS, which were identified by the lab numbers as KVAFSU MS R1, KVAFSU MS R4 and KVAFSU MS S9.