Abstract

The underlying cause of Johne's disease (JD), which primarily affects ruminants and is characterised by chronic diarrhoea and emaciation, is Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). Johne's illness is extremely widespread around the world and causes significant economic losses due to diminished production. The study of population genetics, pathogenesis, and molecular epidemiology, including disease surveillance and outbreak research, could all benefit from the genotyping of the involved pathogen. Primarily, scientists have presummated the existence of two distinct MAP strains linked to the animal host species (cattle and sheep). In contrast, genetic testing using genetic marker including insertion elements, repetitive sequences, and single nucleotide polymorphisms is now the major method used for MAP characterisation. This project intends to give a general overview of the MAP molecular epidemiology's future prospects are discussed in light of the developments in molecular biological tools used for MAP typing over the last two decades, how these techniques have been applied to answer intriguing epidemiological questions, and the potential uses of these techniques in the future.

Keywords: Emaciation; Paratuberculosis; Mycobacterium; ruminant