Genetic assemblage of Sarcocystis spp. in Malaysian snakes

Abstract

Background: Sarcocystis species are protozoan parasites with a wide host range including snakes. Although there were several reports of Sarcocytis species in snakes, their distribution and prevalence are still not fully explored.

Methods: In this study, fecal specimens of several snake species in Malaysia were examined for the presence of Sarcocystis by PCR of 18S rDNA sequence. Microscopy examination of the fecal specimens for sporocysts was not carried as it was difficult to determine the species of the infecting Sarcocystis.

Results: Of the 28 snake fecal specimens, 7 were positive by PCR. BLASTn and phylogenetic analyses of the amplified 18S rDNA sequences revealed the snakes were infected with either S. nesbitti, S. singaporensis, S. zuoi or undefined Sarcocystis species.

Conclusion: This study is the first to report Sarcocystis infection in a cobra, and S. nesbitti in a reticulated python.

Figure 1

Phylogenetic tree based on 18S rRNA sequences of Sarcocystis species. The tree is constructed using the Neighbour Joining method. The percentage of replicate trees in which the associated sequences clustered together in the bootstrap test (1000 replicates) are shown next to the branches [27]. The tree is drawn to scale, with branch lengths in the same units as those of the evolutionary distances used to infer the phylogenetic tree. The phylogenetic analysis was conducted using MEGA4 [24].