Background

Under the poor hygienic conditions, tick-borne pathogens cause severe economic losses to the cattle industry.

Purpose

The current study investigated the presence of Theileria annulata, Babesia bigemina, and Anaplasma marginale, the most relevant tick-borne pathogens in cattle, in 3 provinces of Egypt utilizing species-specific PCR assays.

Methods

PCR was conducted, on bovine blood specimens, using primers targeting the T. annulata merozoite–piroplasm surface antigen (Tams1, 768 bp), A. marginale major surface protein-1b gene (msp1b, 265 bp), and B. bigemina small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSrRNA, 543 bp).

Results

PCR findings revealed overall prevalences of T. annulata, B. bigemina, and A. marginale as 22.0% (33/150), 19.33% (29/150), and 10.6% (16/150), respectively. The co-infection with two or three pathogens was detected in 20.0% (30/150) of examined specimens. Sequence analyses indicated that T. annulata and A. marginale varied from those of corresponding GenBank sequences revealing percent identities ranging from 90.68 to 97.75% and from 94.98 to 98.63%, respectively. On the other hand, the obtained B. bigemina sequences showed a high similarity with those previously reported in GenBank with a percent identity ranging from 98.85 to 100%.

Conclusion

T. annulata was the most prevalent tick-borne pathogen in examined bovine specimens. The genetic diversity of markers used for identification of T. annulata and A. marginale should be highly considered.

中文翻译：

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埃及三个地区牛的泰勒虫，巴贝斯虫和边缘质膜的分子检测，系统发育分析和遗传多样性。

背景

在恶劣的卫生条件下，tick传播的病原体给养牛业造成严重的经济损失。

目的

目前的研究调查的存在环形泰勒，巴贝bigemina，和无形体，牛最相关蜱传病原体，埃及利用物种特异性PCR检测的3个省。

方法

进行PCR，对牛血标本，使用引物靶向T.菇裂殖子-piroplasm表面抗原（Tams1，768 bp）的，A.边缘无主表面蛋白-1b基因（msp1b，265碱基对），和B. bigemina小亚基核糖体RNA基因（SSrRNA，543 bp）。

结果

PCR结果揭示的整体发生率T.菇，B. bigemina，和A.边缘无为22.0％（150分之33），19.33％（150分之29），和分别为10.6％（150分之16）。在20.0％（30/150）的检查样本中检测到有两种或三种病原体的共同感染。序列分析表明，T.菇和A.边缘无选自对应GenBank中的序列揭示同一性百分比范围从90.68到97.75％，并且从94.98到98.63分别％，的变化。另一方面，获得的双歧双歧杆菌序列显示出与先前在GenBank中报道的序列高度相似，同一性百分比范围为98.85至100％。

结论

在检查的牛标本中，圆环虫是最普遍的tick传播病原体。应当高度考虑用于鉴定环线虫和边缘线虫的标记的遗传多样性。