Naslov
Molecular epizootiology of canine hepatozoonosis in Croatia

Autori
Vojta, Lea ; Mrljak, Vladimir ; Ćurković, Snježana ; Živičnjak, Tatjana ; Marinculić Albert ; Beck, Relja

Izvornik
International journal for parasitology (0020-7519) 39 (2009), 10; 1129-1136

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
hepatozoon; dogs; molecular detection; sequence analysis; heterogeneity; isolate groups

Sažetak
An epizootiological survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of hepatozoonosis in a population of 924 apparently asymptomatic dogs from different regions of Croatia. DNA was isolated from canine blood and screening PCR on the 666 bp fragment of 18S rRNA revealed that 108 (11.8%) of dogs were infected. Positive samples were confirmed by partial sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene. The consensus sequences, derived from various sequence data sets, were compared with sequences of 18S ssrRNA of Hepatozoon spp. available in GenBank. The alignments revealed 106 Hepatozoon canis and two Hepatozoon sp. sequences. Among H. canis isolates, we found a certain amount of heterogeneity, while both Hepatozoon sp. isolates were identical to the Spanish isolate (Accession No. AY600625) from Clethrionomys glareolus. On the basis of eight commonly mutated nucleotide positions in the partial 18S rRNA gene sequence, we divided the H. canis isolates into five groups. The results obtained indicate a higher prevalence and significance of hepatozoonosis in Croatia than previously believed and demonstrate that the organisms belonging to H. canis that infect European dogs are genetically very heterogeneous.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija, Veterinarska medicina

POVEZANOST RADA