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. 2020 Oct 29;13(1):537.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04412-8.

First detection and molecular identification of Babesia sp. from the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, in China

Chanjuan Yue  1 , Zeshuai Deng  1 , Dunwu Qi  1 , Yunli Li  1 , Wenlei Bi  1 , Rui Ma  1 , Guangyou Yang  2 , Xue Luo  2 , Rong Hou  3 , Songrui Liu  4
Affiliations

First detection and molecular identification of Babesia sp. from the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, in China

Chanjuan Yue et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Parasitic infections are among the important causes of death of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) that hamper their survival in the wild. There are about 35 species of parasites which have been identified in giant pandas, but no information is currently available regarding the infection of Babesia in giant pandas. Babesia spp. are common intraerythrocytic parasite in wildlife, transmitted by ixodid ticks, which cause babesiosis. Clinical signs of babesiosis include fever, hemolysis, anemia, jaundice and death.

Methods: A species of Babesia was detected in the blood of a giant panda based on morphology and PCR amplification of the 18S rRNA gene. The phylogenetic relationship of Babesia sp. infecting giant panda was assessed by gene sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis.

Results: Our analysis revealed that the Babesia isolate detected was most similar to an unidentified species of Babesia identified in black bears (Ursus thibetanus japonicus) from Japan (Babesia sp. Iwate, AB586027.1) with a 99.56% sequence similarity, followed by Babesia sp. EBB (AB566229.1, 99.50%) and Babesia sp. Akita (AB566229.1, 99.07%).

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first report of Babesia detected in the giant panda. The results indicate that this Babesia sp. may be a novel species, currently named Babesia sp. strain EBP01.

Keywords: 18S rRNA gene; Babesia; Giant panda; Phylogenetic tree; ailuropoda melanoleuca.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a, b Giemsa stained thin blood smear of Babesia from the giant panda. Final magnification of 1000×. c, d Diff Quick stained thin blood smear of Babesia from the giant panda. Final magnification of 1000×. Scale-bars: 5 μm
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
PCR of Babesia identification (465 bp). Lane M: Marker DL 2000 (Sangon Biotech®Shanghai, China); Lane 1: positive control (synthetic B. canins plasmid); Lane 2: negative control (nuclease-free water); Lane 3: the blood sample of the giant panda
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
PCR of Babesia 18S rRNA (1600 bp) Lane M: Marker DL 2000 (Sangon Biotech®Shanghai, China); Lane 1: positive control (synthetic B. canins plasmid); Lane 2: negative control (nuclease-free water); Lane 3: the blood sample of the giant panda
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Rooted 50% majority-rule consensus cladogram of the open reading frame of the 18S rRNA from piroplasms. Calculated by neighbor-joining and bootstrap estimates from 1000 replicates, with T. gondii as the outgroup. The bootstrap values based on 1000 replicates are displayed next to the branches, the hosts are listed in parentheses
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