Tritrichomonas foetus isolates from cats and cattle show minor genetic differences in unrelated loci ITS-2 and EF-1alpha

Reinmann, Karin; Müller, Norbert; Kuhnert, Peter; Campero, Carlos M.; Leitsch, David; Hess, M; Henning, K; Fort, M; Müller, Joachim; Gottstein, Bruno; Frey, Caroline (2012). Tritrichomonas foetus isolates from cats and cattle show minor genetic differences in unrelated loci ITS-2 and EF-1alpha. Veterinary parasitology, 185(2-4), pp. 138-44. Amsterdam: Elsevier 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.09.032

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The protozoan parasite Tritrichomonas foetus is well known as an important causative agent of infertility and abortion in cattle (bovine trichomonosis). This World Organisation for Animal Health (O.I.E.) notifiable disease is thought to be under control in many countries including Switzerland. In recent studies, however, T. foetus has also been identified as an intestinal parasite that causes chronic large-bowel diarrhoea in cats. Since the feline isolates were considered indistinguishable from bovine isolates, the possibility and risk of parasite transmission from cats to cattle and vice versa has been intensively discussed in current literature. Therefore, we investigated if cat and cattle isolates are genetically distinct from each other or in fact represent identical genotypes. For this purpose, two independent genetic loci were selected that turned out to be well-suited for a PCR sequencing-based genotyping of trichomonad isolates: (i) previously published internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS-2) and (ii) a semi-conserved sequence stretch of the elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1alpha) gene used for the first time in the present study. Respective comparative analyses revealed that both loci were sufficiently variable to allow unambiguous genetic discrimination between different trichomonad species. Comparison of both genetic loci confirmed that T. suis and T. mobilensis are phylogenetically very close to T. foetus. Moreover, these two genetic markers were suited to define host-specific genotypes of T. foetus. Both loci showed single base differences between cat and cattle isolates but showed full sequence identity within strains from either cat or cattle isolates. Furthermore, an additional PCR with a forward primer designed to specifically amplify the bovine sequence of EF-1alpha was able to discriminate bovine isolates of T. foetus from feline isolates and also from other trichomonads. The implications these minor genetic differences may have on the biological properties of the distinct isolates remain to be investigated.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Parasitology
05 Veterinary Medicine > Research Foci > Host-Pathogen Interaction
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP)
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Veterinary Bacteriology

UniBE Contributor:

Reinmann, Karin, Müller, Norbert, Kuhnert, Peter, Leitsch, David, Müller, Heinz Joachim, Gottstein, Bruno, Frey Marreros Canales, Caroline Franziska

Subjects:

600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

0304-4017

Publisher:

Elsevier

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Kuhnert-Ryser

Date Deposited:

04 Oct 2013 14:31

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:21

Publisher DOI:

10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.09.032

PubMed ID:

22000167

Web of Science ID:

000302839700012

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.12114

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/12114 (FactScience: 218396)

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