Nested PCR Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of Babesiabovis and Babesia bigemina in Cattlefrom Peri-Urban Localities in Gauteng Province, South Africa

[摘要] References(30)Cited-By(4)Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina aretick-borne hemoparasites causing babesiosis in cattle worldwide. This study was aimed atproviding information about the occurrence and geographical distribution of B.bovis and B. bigemina species in cattle from Gauteng province,South Africa. A total of 268 blood samples collected from apparently healthy animals in 14different peri-urban localities were tested using previously established nested PCR assaysfor the detection of B. bovis and B. bigeminaspecies-specific genes encoding rhoptry-associated protein 1 (RAP-1) andSpeI-AvaI restriction fragment, respectively. NestedPCR assays revealed that the overall prevalence was 35.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]=±5.73) and 76.1% (95% CI=± 5.11) for B. bovis and B.bigemina, respectively. PCR results were corroborated by sequencing ampliconsof randomly selected samples. The neighbor-joining trees were constructed to study thephylogenetic relationship between B. bovis and B.bigemina sequences of randomly selected isolates. Analysis of phylograminferred with B. bovis RAP-1 sequences indicated a close relationshipbetween our isolates and GenBank strains. On the other hand, a tree constructed withB. bigemina gp45 sequences revealed a high degree of polymorphism amongthe B. bigemina isolates investigated in this study. Taken together, theresults presented in this work indicate the high incidence of Babesiaparasites in cattle from previously uncharacterised peri-urban areas of the Gautengprovince. These findings suggest that effective preventative and control measures areessential to curtail the spread of Babesia infections among cattlepopulations in Gauteng.

[学科分类] 兽医学

[关键词] Babesia bigemina;Babesia bovis;bovine;nested PCR;South Africa