subsp. Candidate Vaccine Strains Are Pro-apoptotic in RAW 264.7 Murine Macrophages.

subsp. (MAP) is the etiological agent of Johne's disease, a severe gastroenteritis of ruminants. This study developed a model cell culture system to rapidly screen MAP mutants with vaccine potential for apoptosis.

Stage of infection with subsp. impacts expression of Rab5, Rab7, and CYP27B1 in macrophages within the ileum of naturally infected cows.

Introduction: Macrophages are the preferential target of (MAP), the etiologic agent of ruminant paratuberculosis. Uptake of pathogens by intestinal macrophages results in their trafficking through endosomal compartments, ultimately leading to fusion with an acidic lysosome to destroy the pathogen. MAP possesses virulence factors which disrupt these endosomal pathways.

Improved DNA Amplification of the Hallmark IS Element in subsp. : a Reexamination Based on Whole-Genome Sequence Analysis.

Amplification of the IS multicopy element is a hallmark nucleic acid-based diagnostic test for Mycobacterium avium subsp. , which causes Johne's disease in ruminants. This assay is frequently used to determine the presence of the bacterium in feces of infected cattle and sheep.

Comparison of methods to isolate peripheral blood mononuclear cells from cattle blood.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are critical for assessment of host immune responses to infectious disease. The isolation of PBMCs from whole blood is a laborious process involving density gradients and multiple centrifugation steps. In the present study we compared a more traditional method of PBMC isolation used in our laboratory to two novel methods of cell isolation for efficiency, cell viability, and enumeration of cell subsets.

B cell phenotypes and maturation states in cows naturally infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. Paratuberculosis.

Little is known about the role that B cells play in immune responses to infection with the intracellular pathogen, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Traditionally, the role of B cells has been constrained to their function as antibody-producing cells, however, antibodies are not thought to play a protective role in mycobacterial infections.