Sichuan Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Sichuan Academy of Giant Panda, 1375 Panda Road, Chenghua District, 610081, Sichuan, China.
College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
Parasit Vectors. 2020 Oct 29;13(1):537. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04412-8.
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.
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.
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%).
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.
寄生虫感染是导致大熊猫（Ailuropoda melanoleuca）死亡的重要原因之一，这也阻碍了它们在野外的生存。目前已经在大熊猫身上发现了约 35 种寄生虫，但关于大熊猫感染巴贝斯虫的信息目前尚不清楚。巴贝斯虫属是野生动物中常见的红细胞内寄生虫，通过硬蜱传播，引起巴贝斯虫病。巴贝斯虫病的临床症状包括发热、溶血、贫血、黄疸和死亡。
根据形态学和 18S rRNA 基因的 PCR 扩增，在一只大熊猫的血液中检测到一种巴贝斯虫。通过基因序列比对和系统发育分析评估感染大熊猫的巴贝斯虫种的系统发育关系。
我们的分析表明，检测到的巴贝斯虫分离株与来自日本黑熊（Ursus thibetanus japonicus）的一种未鉴定的巴贝斯虫最为相似（巴贝斯虫属 Iwate 种，AB586027.1），序列相似性为 99.56%，其次是巴贝斯虫属 EBB（AB566229.1，99.50%）和巴贝斯虫属 Akita（AB566229.1，99.07%）。
据我们所知，这是首次在大熊猫中检测到巴贝斯虫。结果表明，这种巴贝斯虫可能是一种新种，目前命名为巴贝斯虫属 EBP01 株。
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