Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019:26:36.
doi: 10.1051/parasite/2019035. Epub 2019 Jun 14.

Occurrence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in slaughtered domestic rabbits in central China

Weifeng Qian  1 , Wenchao Yan  1 , Chaochao Lv  1 , Rongzhen Bai  1 , Tianqi Wang  1
Affiliations

Occurrence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in slaughtered domestic rabbits in central China

Weifeng Qian et al. Parasite. 2019.

Abstract
in English, French

Currently, information on the occurrence and genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in tissues of rabbits in China is lacking. In this study, brain and heart samples from 470 slaughtered domestic rabbits were collected in Henan Province, Central China. The occurrence rate of T. gondii and N. caninum DNA detected by nested PCR was 2.8% and 2.1%, respectively. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the frequency of the two parasite infections in relation to sex, breed, and region. Three out of 13 T. gondii-positive samples were completely or partially genotyped at 11 genetic markers using PCR-RFLP, and one was identified as ToxoDB genotype #9. For N. caninum, three different sequences at the ITS1 region and two genotypes at the MS5 microsatellite locus were identified. To our knowledge, this is the first genetic characterization of N. caninum isolates from rabbits.

Nous manquons actuellement d’informations sur la présence et la caractérisation génétique de Toxoplasma gondii et Neospora caninum dans les tissus de lapins en Chine. Dans cette étude, des échantillons de cerveau et de cœur de 470 lapins domestiques abattus ont été recueillis dans la province du Henan, dans le centre de la Chine. Le taux de présence d’ADN de T. gondii et N. caninum, détecté par PCR imbriquée, était de 2,8 % et 2,1 %, respectivement. Il n’y avait pas de différence significative (p > 0,05) dans la fréquence des deux infections parasitaires en fonction du sexe, de la race et de la région du lapin. Trois des 13 échantillons positifs pour T. gondii ont été complètement ou partiellement génotypés au moyen de PCR-RFLP sur 11 marqueurs génétiques, et un a été identifié comme étant le génotype #9 de ToxoDB. Pour N. caninum, trois séquences différentes de la région ITS1 et deux génotypes du locus microsatellite MS5 ont été identifiés. À notre connaissance, il s’agit de la première caractérisation génétique d’isolats de N. caninum provenant de lapins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phylogenetic relationships among NcRb1 − NcRb3 in this study and different representative sequences in GenBank, as inferred by a neighbor-joining analysis of the partial ITS1 region. Bootstrap values greater than 50% from 1000 pseudoreplicates are shown. The sequences in this study are marked by closed circles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sequence alignment of the partial ITS1 gene for the Neospora caninum isolates obtained in this study and reference sequences from GenBank. Dots (·) indicate identical nucleotides related to the sequence of JX857862 (first row) at that position and dashes (–) indicate deletions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Alvarado-Esquivel C, Torres-Berumen JL, Estrada-Martinez S, Liesenfeld O, Mercado-Suarez MF. 2011. Toxoplasma gondii infection and liver disease: a case-control study in a northern Mexican population. Parasites & Vectors, 4, 75. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Basso W, Schares S, Barwald A, Herrmann DC, Conraths FJ, Pantchev N, Vrhovec MG, Schares G. 2009. Molecular comparison of Neospora caninum oocyst isolates from naturally infected dogs with cell culture-derived tachyzoites of the same isolates using nested polymerase chain reaction to amplify microsatellite markers. Veterinary Parasitology, 160(1–2), 43–50. - PubMed
    1. Brom PR, Regidor-Cerrillo J, Collantes-Fernandez E, Ortega-Mora LM, Guimaraes MS, da Silva AC. 2014. Genetic characterisation of Neospora caninum strains from clinical samples of zebuine foetuses obtained in abattoirs in Goias, Brazil. Veterinary Parasitology, 204(3–4), 381–387. - PubMed
    1. Cong W, Zhou CX, Chen L, Zou Y, Wang WL, Meng QF, Qian AD. 2018. Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum in Tolai Hares (Lepus tolai) intended for human consumption in China: seroprevalence, DNA detection, and genotyping. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 15(9), 544–547. - PubMed
    1. de Lima DC, Santos Ade S, da Silva LT, de Melo RP, da Silva JG, Junior JW, Mota RA. 2016. Occurrence of Toxoplasma gondii in domestic rabbits of Northeastern Brazil. Acta Parasitologica, 61(3), 500–507. - PubMed

MeSH terms