Abstract
This study aimed to isolate and characterize treponemes present in the bovine gastrointestinal (GI) tract and compare them with bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) treponemes. Seven spirochete isolates were obtained from the bovine GI tract, which, on the basis of 16S rRNA gene comparisons, clustered within the genus Treponema as four novel phylotypes. One phylotype was isolated from several different GI tract regions, including the omasum, colon, rumen, and rectum. These four phylotypes could be divided into two phylotype pairs that clustered closest with each other and then with different, previously reported rumen treponemes. The treponemes displayed great genotypic and phenotypic diversity between phylotypes and differed considerably from named treponeme species and those recently reported by metagenomic studies of the bovine GI tract. Phylogenetic inference, based on comparisons of 16S rRNA sequences from only bovine treponemes, suggested a marked divergence between two important groups. The dendrogram formed two major clusters, with one cluster containing GI tract treponemes and the other containing BDD treponemes. This division among the bovine treponemes is likely the result of adaptation to different niches. To further differentiate the bovine GI and BDD strains, we designed a degenerate PCR for a gene encoding a putative virulence factor, tlyC, which gave a positive reaction only for treponemes from the BDD cluster.