Domestic cats (Felis catus) are definitive hosts forSarcocystis sinensis from water buffaloes (Bubalusbubalis)

[摘要] References(20)Cited-By(1)The definitive hosts of Sarcocystis sinensis in water buffaloes havehitherto been unknown, but the close similarity of this species to the cat-transmittedSarcocystis bovifelis in cattle suggested they were felids. In aprevious study, two domestic cats were fed macroscopic sarcocysts of Sarcocystisfusiformis contained within or dissected from the esophageal muscles of waterbuffaloes, while no microscopic sarcocysts of S. sinensis were noticed.Both cats started shedding small numbers of sporocysts 8�?10 days post infection (dpi) andwere euthanized 15 dpi. Using a PCR-based molecular assay targeting the mitochondrialcox1 gene of S. fusiformis, both cats were shown toact as definitive hosts for this species. In the present study, DNA samples derived fromoocysts/sporocysts in the intestinal mucosa of both cats were further examined by PCR forthe presence of S. sinensis using 2 newly designed primers selectivelytargeting the cox1 gene of this species. All 6 DNA samples examined fromeach cat tested positive for S. sinensis. A 1,038-bp-long portion ofcox1 was amplified and sequenced as 2 overlapping fragments from 5 ofthese DNA samples. The 5 sequences shared 99.3�?100% identity with 7 previouscox1 sequences of S. sinensis obtained from sarcocystsin water buffaloes. Additionally, amplification of the ITS1 region with primers targetingvarious Sarcocystis spp., yielded amplicons of 2 different lengths,corresponding to those obtained from sarcocyst isolates of S. sinensisand S. fusiformis, respectively. This is the first study to show thatcats act as definitive hosts for S. sinensis.

[学科分类] 兽医学

[关键词] Bubalus bubalis;cat;cox1;Sarcocystis fusiformis;Sarcocystis sinensis