Division of Bio Bigdata, Department of Precision Medicine, Korea National Institute of Health, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea.
Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea.
Parasit Vectors. 2022 Nov 3;15(1):404. doi: 10.1186/s13071-022-05528-9.
The Babesia microti-like parasite is an emerging tick-borne piroplasm that has been detected in a range of hosts worldwide. Babesia vulpes, which is found in dogs and foxes, has been reclassified from B. microti-like parasites. The relationships among these B. microti-like parasites and B. vulpes with respect to host range and geographical origin have not been elucidated.
Blood samples were collected from 27 raccoon dogs in South Korea and used to screen for B. microti-like parasites based on a PCR assay targeting the 18S rRNA gene of Babesia. For comparative purposes, in addition to 18S rRNA sequences from nine raccoon dogs, we also analyzed 18S rRNA sequences from B. microti-like parasites infecting hosts in different geographical regions worldwide obtained from the GenBank database, giving 123 sequences in total. The genetic variation and evolutionary relationships among these sequences were examined based on analyses using DnaSP, MEGA, Arlequine, and BEAST software.
Babesia microti-like parasites were identified in nine raccoon dogs and found to be related to B. vulpes obtained from Spanish dogs. Among the 123 sequences from 14 countries and various hosts, we identified 43 haplotypes with high genetic variance. Based on the genetic variance and phylogenetic analyses, we established that the B. microti-like parasites isolated in different geographical regions and from hosts belonging to five orders showed higher among-population variation than within-population variation. Babesia vulpes parasites infecting carnivore hosts, including raccoon dogs, foxes, skunks and dogs, appear to be genetically distinct from B. microti-like parasites infecting hosts belonging to the other orders.
Our study demonstrated the genetic variation and evolutionary relationships among 18S rRNA sequences obtained from blood samples collected from various hosts and different geographical regions. Babesia vulpes was identified from raccoon dogs in South Korea. In addition, higher genetic variations were observed among populations of different hosts and geographical origins and, in particular, low connectivity was observed among host populations in the order Carnivora and those in other orders. These results suggest the B. vulpes, a piroplasmid species pathogenic in domestic dogs and wild canines, is genetically and evolutionarily different from B. microti-like parasites.
微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫是一种新兴的蜱传巴贝斯虫，已在全球范围内的多种宿主中检测到。在狗和狐狸中发现的狐狸巴贝斯虫已从微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫中重新分类。这些微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫与狐狸巴贝斯虫之间的关系，包括宿主范围和地理起源，尚未阐明。
从韩国的 27 只浣熊狗中采集血液样本，并基于针对巴贝斯虫 18S rRNA 基因的 PCR 检测来筛选微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫。为了进行比较，除了来自 9 只浣熊狗的 18S rRNA 序列外，我们还分析了来自全球不同地理区域感染宿主的微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫的 18S rRNA 序列，总共获得了 123 个序列。使用 DnaSP、MEGA、Arlequine 和 BEAST 软件对这些序列的遗传变异和进化关系进行了分析。
在 9 只浣熊狗中鉴定出微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫，这些寄生虫与来自西班牙狗的狐狸巴贝斯虫有关。在来自 14 个国家和各种宿主的 123 个序列中，我们确定了 43 个具有高遗传变异的单倍型。基于遗传变异和系统发育分析，我们发现来自不同地理区域和属于五个目宿主的微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫的种群间变异高于种群内变异。感染浣熊狗、狐狸、臭鼬和狗等食肉动物的狐狸巴贝斯虫寄生虫与感染其他目宿主的微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫在遗传上似乎不同。
我们的研究表明，从来自不同宿主和地理区域的血液样本中获得的 18S rRNA 序列的遗传变异和进化关系。在韩国的浣熊狗中鉴定出狐狸巴贝斯虫。此外，不同宿主和地理起源的种群观察到更高的遗传变异，特别是在食肉目宿主种群和其他目宿主种群之间观察到低连通性。这些结果表明，作为对家犬和野生犬科动物致病的血孢子虫物种，狐狸巴贝斯虫在遗传和进化上与微小巴贝斯虫样寄生虫不同。
Zotero 插件