Molecular characterization of Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale isolated from broiler chicken flocks in Iran

The present study was designed to isolate Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale in broiler flocks in Iran and characterize it using biochemical, polymerase chain reaction assays, and phylogenetic analyses. A total of 150 tracheal swabs were collected from broiler chickens in slaughterhouses. Additionally, 150 lung and 150 tracheal tissue samples were taken from dead birds of broiler flocks that were developing symptoms of respiratory diseases. For PCR assay DNA was extracted from ORT isolates and also from tissue samples. ORT was isolated from 1 out of 150 swabs samples and 3 out of 300 total tissue samples. Four ORT isolates together with 7 DNA extractions from tissue samples generated amplification products of 784 bp after the PCR with specific primers. Finally, it was confirmed that the sequence analysis of 16S rRNA and ORT isolates is close to the isolates from GenBank with identity ranging from 98% to 100%.