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. 2025 Jun 6;15(12):1685.
doi: 10.3390/ani15121685.

Molecular Prevalence and Genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in Sheep Tissues Intended for Human Consumption in Shanxi Province, North China

Xin-Sheng Lu  1 , Jing Li  1 , Chen Wang  1 , Lu Wang  1 , Xiao-Jing Wu  1 , Xi-Long Yi  2 , Ze-Xuan Wu  1 , Wen-Bin Zheng  1 , Xing-Quan Zhu  1
Affiliations

Molecular Prevalence and Genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii in Sheep Tissues Intended for Human Consumption in Shanxi Province, North China

Xin-Sheng Lu et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most widely distributed intracellular parasites worldwide, which can infect humans and a wide range of warm-blooded animals including sheep, with felines serving as its definitive host. T. gondii infection in sheep can lead to premature births, abortions and stillbirths, causing significant economic losses to the sheep industry. Sheep farming has become a key pillar of the agricultural economy in Shanxi Province, North China, but little is known about T. gondii infection in sheep in this province. In the present study, a total of 755 sheep tissue samples (682 muscle tissue samples and 73 lymphatic tissue samples) were collected from different markets in 10 different cities of Shanxi Province. The genomic DNA of all samples was extracted and the B1 gene of T. gondii was amplified by PCR. The B1 gene-positive samples were genotyped at 12 genetic markers employing the multilocus nested PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (Mn-PCR-RFLP). The molecular prevalence of T. gondii infection in sheep tissues in Shanxi Province was 20.5% (155/755). The T. gondii genotype ToxoDB#9 was identified in one positive T. gondii sample, with complete genotyping at all 12 genetic markers based on Mn-PCR-RFLP. This is the first report of molecular prevalence and genotype of T. gondii infection in sheep in Shanxi Province. These results reveal the widespread distribution of T. gondii in sheep in Shanxi, which is of significant public health importance.

Keywords: China; Shanxi Province; Toxoplasma gondii; genotype; prevalence; sheep.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sampling sites for commercially available sheep tissues in Shanxi Province, North China. The map was generated by ArcGIS 10.8 using data from the China National Geographic Information Public Service Platform.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PCR products targeting the Toxoplasma gondii B1 gene were amplified from sheep muscle samples, with T. gondii DNA derived from tachyzoites of the RH strain as positive control (P). Lanes 1–12 represent the PCR results from DNA extracted from representative sheep muscle samples, lane N represents the negative control, and lane M represents the DNA size markers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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