PCR products for both assays were separated by gel electrophoresis and visualised using a UV transmilluminator. Negative controls (dH2O) were included in each amplification round to control for PCR contamination. PCR products were purified with an Invitrogen PureLink™ PCR purification kit and sent to the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) for sequencing using the Sanger dideoxy method [30]. Gene sequence names from each C. pecorum positive sample were derived from the population 3-deazaneplanocin A solubility dmso from which the koala originated and the ID name assigned by the veterinarians (i.e. ‘Bre/Ned’ = Brendale population; animal name ‘Ned’). Sequence and

statistical analysis Alignments for each sequenced gene were produced using ClustalW click here [31] and RevTrans [32] was used to reverse-translate all alignments. Non-coding genes were aligned based on their nucleotide sequence. The software package DnaSP 5.0 [33] was used to analyse the extent of sequence variation by calculating the number

of polymorphic and parsimony-informative sites, the average nucleotide diversity (p-distance) and Tajima’s test for neutrality (D-value). The Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) [34] software package was used to calculate the number of synonymous and non-synonymous sites and subsequent dN/dS ratio using the Nei-Gojobori method [35]. The discrimination index (D.I.), based on Simpson’s index of diversity [36], was calculated to determine the differentiating and discriminatory capacity of each gene: where D = index of discrimination, N = number of strains in the sample, and n i = number of strains in group i. The index ranges from 0 to 1, with a value close to 0 indicating low genetic diversity and a value close to 1 indicating high genetic diversity [36]. Calculation of the D.I. requires at least three nucleotide sequences for analysis. Criteria for identifying genetic markers In order to select the most appropriate candidate

genes for further investigation, a shortlist of three genes, ORF663, incA and tarP (in addition to ompA), were selected based on their application in previous C. pecorum typing studies [21], in addition to several empirical criterions: Glutathione peroxidase The average proportion of nucleotide distances (p-distance) should be ≥ 0.02 before intra-species differentiation may be attempted [37, 38], which can be calculated from an alignment containing two or more sequences [39, 40]. Furthermore, both highly constrained, slowly-changing molecular markers and highly variable genes under diversifying selection each have their advantages, QNZ datasheet disadvantages, and advocates [41], implying the importance of selecting genes under both positive and negative selection. Finally, the discrimination index (D.I.) for candidate markers should be > 0.