National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh 790 101, India.
Vet Parasitol. 2013 May 1;194(1):58-64. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2012.12.024. Epub 2012 Dec 20.
Yaks contribute significantly in the Himalayan high land economy. Specific information on prevalence of babesiosis in yaks is lacking. A fast and reliable PCR assay targeting Babesia bigemina small subunit ribosomal RNA sequence (SS rRNA) was laboratory standardized for molecular detection of B. bigemina in yaks. Restriction digestion of the PCR amplified 675 bp target sequence with Vsp I confirmed the prevalent species of Babesia as B. bigemina. Nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of PCR amplified 675 bp SS rRNA sequence revealed a close genetic relationship with other bovine isolates of B. bigemina. A PCR based survey involving 94 blood samples of yak from the National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh detected infection in 5.32% of yak blood samples, which was significantly higher in comparison to microscope based detection of infection in 2.13% blood smears. This is the first report on sensitive PCR based detection of B. bigemina infection in yaks and PCR-RFLP and nucleotide sequence analysis based molecular characterization of the B. bigemina isolated from yaks.
牦牛对喜马拉雅高地经济有重要贡献。有关牦牛巴贝斯虫病的流行情况的具体信息尚不清楚。针对巴贝斯虫小亚单位核糖体 RNA 序列（SS rRNA）的快速可靠 PCR 检测方法已在实验室中标准化，用于牦牛巴贝斯虫的分子检测。用 Vsp I 对扩增的 675 bp 靶序列进行限制性消化证实了流行的巴贝斯虫物种为双芽巴贝斯虫。对扩增的 675 bp SS rRNA 序列进行核苷酸测序和系统发育分析表明，与其他牛源双芽巴贝斯虫分离株具有密切的遗传关系。涉及来自阿萨姆邦迪朗国家牦牛研究中心的 94 份牦牛血液样本的基于 PCR 的调查检测到 5.32%的牦牛血液样本存在感染，与显微镜检测到的 2.13%血液涂片感染相比，这一比例显著更高。这是首次报道基于 PCR 的牦牛双芽巴贝斯虫感染的敏感检测，以及基于 PCR-RFLP 和核苷酸序列分析对从牦牛中分离出的双芽巴贝斯虫进行分子特征分析。
