Differentiation of Moraxella bovoculi sp. nov. from other coccoid moraxellae by the use of polymerase chain reaction and restriction endonuclease analysis of amplified DNA.

Moraxella ovis was historically the only coccoid Moraxella identified in cultures of ocular fluid from cattle with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK) and could be morphologically and biochemically differentiated from Moraxella bovis. Moraxella bovoculi sp. nov. is a recently characterized Moraxella isolated from ulcerated eyes of calves with IBK in northern California in 2002. Like Moraxella ovis, M. bovoculi sp. nov. is a gram-negative coccus/diplococcus. All 18 original isolates of M. bovoculi sp. nov. possessed phenylalanine deaminase (PADase) activity and could therefore be differentiated from M. ovis and M. bovis. During the characterization of 44 additional isolates of hemolytic gram-negative cocci that were cultured from ulcerated eyes of IBK-affected calves, 2 PADase-negative isolates were identified that could not be differentiated biochemically from M. ovis; however, the DNA sequence of the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region (ISR) of the isolates matched the 16S-23S ISR DNA sequence of M. bovoculi sp. nov. To facilitate the identification of PADase-negative moraxellae, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with restriction enzyme digestion analysis of amplified DNA was developed. Amplification of the 16S-23S ISR followed by AfaI digestion of amplified DNA could differentiate M. bovoculi sp. nov. from M. ovis and other moraxellae. The DNA sequence analysis of the amplified 16S-23S ISR from the 42 PADase-positive isolates of hemolytic gram-negative cocci indicated that all were M. bovoculi sp. nov. and all possessed an AfaI site. A PCR coupled with restriction analysis of amplified DNA can aid in identifying M. bovoculi sp. nov.