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. 2018 Nov 12;11(1):587.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-3178-9.

Prevalence and genetic diversity of Enterocytozoon bieneusi in sheep in China

Heng Yang  1 , Rongsheng Mi  1 , Long Cheng  1 , Yan Huang  1 , Rui An  2 , Yehua Zhang  1 , Haiyan Jia  1 , Xiaoli Zhang  1 , Xu Wang  1 , Xiangan Han  1 , Zhaoguo Chen  3
Affiliations

Prevalence and genetic diversity of Enterocytozoon bieneusi in sheep in China

Heng Yang et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a common species of microsporidia that not only influences human health but also threatens animal productive performance and value. However, there have been no systematic studies of the prevalence of E. bieneusi in sheep in China.

Results: A total of 953 fecal specimens were collected from sheep from 11 provinces across five regions of China and analyzed for E. bieneusi by nested PCR targeting the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS). Enterocytozoon bieneusi infections were detected in four regions, with an overall infection rate of 20.4% (194/953). The highest infection rate was detected in pre-weaned lambs (25.0%), followed by post-weaned lambs (22.2%) and adult sheep (14.6%). Enterocytozoon bieneusi was found in nine of the 11 tested provinces, with infection rates between 2.9-51.7%. Eleven genotypes were identified based on ITS analysis, including seven known genotypes (BEB6, CHG1, CHG3, CHS7, CHS8, COS-I and NESH5) and four novel genotypes (CHHLJS1, CHHLJS2, CHNXS1 and CHXJS1). All 11 genotypes were clustered into group 2, and the zoonotic genotype BEB6 was the dominant genotype (n = 129, 66.5%) in sheep.

Conclusion: The prevalence of E. bieneusi was studied in five regions representing most areas where sheep are bred in China. This is the first report of E. bieneusi infection in sheep for seven Chinese provinces. Geographical differences were detected in the distribution of E. bieneusi genotypes, but no differences were found among sheep in different age groups. The zoonotic genotype BEB6 was the dominant genotype, indicating that sheep are a potential source of zoonotic microsporidiosis in China. These results improve our knowledge of the epidemiology of E. bieneusi in sheep in China.

Keywords: China; Enterocytozoon bieneusi; Genotyping; Prevalence; Sheep.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Faecal samples were collected from sheep farms with the consent of farm owners. All experiments were authorised by the Animal Ethics Committee of the Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute and approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The Animal Ethics Committee approval number was Shvri-sh-2013020042. During the whole experimental process, all laboratory work on the study specimens were covered under the Animal Experimental Protocol of Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute (201008): “Use of animal samples for the determination of zoonotic pathogen”.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Geographical map of sampling provinces included in this study. The map was generated using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2016 software
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic analysis of E. bieneusi based on ITS gene sequences. The evolutionary history was inferred using the neighbor-joining method and evolutionary analyses were conducted in MEGA 7.0. Bootstrap values > 50% are shown. Filled squares indicate the novel genotypes obtained in the present study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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