UCD School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Vet Res. 2011 Jan 18;42(1):7. doi: 10.1186/1297-9716-42-7.
Blood samples were obtained from 38 wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) at two sites in Ireland and subjected to PCR analysis of the 18S rRNA gene followed by sequencing. Two fragments of the 18S rRNA gene were generated by two different PCR protocols and subsequent sequencing suggested that at least six of the deer were infected by a babesia that, in those loci, is indistinguishable from Babesia divergens, an important tick-borne pathogen of cattle and of zoonotic significance. Additionally, a B. odocoilei-like parasite was detected in three samples and a babesia that did not match any sequences in the GenBank database was found in five samples. Neither B. capreoli nor B. venatorum (EU1) were found. There have been several reports of B. divergens occurring in deer species, including red deer, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). However, in view of recent re-sequencing of bovine-origin samples deposited previously in GenBank, it is unlikely that any of these sequences from deer are B. divergens. The present study describes the only deer piroplasm detected so far that shows complete identity with B. divergens, in just over half of the 18S rRNA gene. The entire gene of this deer parasite should be analysed and transmission experiments undertaken before the infectivity of B. divergens for red deer can be confirmed.
从爱尔兰的两个地点采集了 38 只野生马鹿（Cervus elaphus）的血液样本，进行了 18S rRNA 基因的 PCR 分析，随后进行了测序。通过两种不同的 PCR 方案生成了 18S rRNA 基因的两个片段，随后的测序表明，至少有 6 只鹿被一种巴贝斯虫感染，在这些基因座中，这种巴贝斯虫与巴贝斯虫 divergens 无法区分，巴贝斯虫 divergens 是一种重要的蜱传病原体，对牛和人畜共患病具有重要意义。此外，在三个样本中检测到一种类似于 B. odocoilei 的寄生虫，在五个样本中发现了一种与 GenBank 数据库中任何序列都不匹配的巴贝斯虫。未发现 B. capreoli 或 B. venatorum（EU1）。已经有几篇报道称，巴贝斯虫 divergens 存在于鹿科动物中，包括马鹿、獐（Capreolus capreolus）和驯鹿（Rangifer tarandus）。然而，鉴于最近对 GenBank 中以前存放的牛源样本进行重新测序，这些来自鹿的序列不太可能是巴贝斯虫 divergens。本研究描述了迄今为止在 18S rRNA 基因中仅检测到的与巴贝斯虫 divergens 完全一致的鹿巴贝斯虫，比例略高于一半。在确认巴贝斯虫 divergens 对马鹿的感染力之前，应该分析这种鹿寄生虫的整个基因，并进行传播实验。
