In camels and their infesting ectoparasites, specific detection of pathogenic Anaplasma platys and genetically related strains (A. platys-like strains) remains problematic. This requires sequencing of the hemi-nested PCR products specific to A. platys and related strains. In this study, a PCR/RFLP method, earlier developed for specific detection of A. platys-like strains in animal species other than camels, was adapted in order to subtype A. platys-like strains isolated from camels and their ticks and to differentiate them from pathogenic A. platys without going through a sequencing step. This approach was used for investigating the infections with A. platys and related strains in 412 Camelus dromedarius camels and 334 feeding ticks from five Tunisian governorates. Microscopic examination using Giemsa-stained blood smears was performed in order to specify which types of cells were infected. Ticks were identified as Hyalomma dromedarii (n = 164, 49%), H. impeltatum (n = 161, 48.3%) and H. excavatum (n = 9, 2.7%). A. platys was not detected in any of the tested camels or ticks. The overall prevalence of A. platys-like strains was 5.6% (23/412) in camels and microscopic examination of infected cells showed a tropism for neutrophil granulocytes. One tick identified as H. dromedarii out of 327 analyzed ticks was found to be infected with A. platys-like strains (0.3%). Alignment, identity comparison and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA partial sequences obtained in this study suggest that Tunisian dromedaries and feeding ticks are infected with different Anaplasma strains genetically related to A. platys. Sequence analysis and phylogenetic study based on the groEL gene confirm the RFLP results and show that camel strains formed a separate sub-cluster relatively close to A. platys-like strains infecting Tunisian cattle. This adapted RFLP assay allows fast and specific detection of pathogenic A. platys and A. platys-like strains in camels and infesting ticks and has the intrinsic potential of revealing co-infections with these two types of bacteria in the same sample, reducing the time and costs associated with cloning and sequencing during molecular diagnosis.

在骆驼及其成虫的体外寄生虫中，对致病性无浆膜鸭和遗传相关菌株（A. platys样菌株）的特异性检测仍然存在问题。这就要求对鸭嘴兽和相关菌株特异的半巢式PCR产物进行测序。在这项研究中，采用了一种PCR / RFLP方法，该方法较早开发用于特异性检测骆驼以外的其他动物物种中的拟南芥样菌株，以便对从骆驼及其their中分离出的拟南芥样菌株进行亚型分析，并对其进行区分。它们来自致病性板球菌，无需经过测序步骤。该方法用于调查鸭梨的感染和相关的在412头野骆驼dromedarius骆驼和334馈送从五个突尼斯省蜱。使用吉姆萨染色的血液涂片进行了显微镜检查，以便确定感染了哪些类型的细胞。蜱被鉴定为璃眼dromedarii（N = 164，49％），H。impeltatum（N = 161，48.3％）和H. excavatum（N = 9，2.7％） 。在任何测试的骆驼或壁虱中均未检测到鸭嘴兽。在骆驼中，板栗样菌株的总体患病率为5.6％（23/412），显微镜检查感染的细胞显示嗜中性粒细胞具有嗜性。一滴水被确认为dromedarii在327个经分析的tick中发现有感染了板球菌样菌株（0.3％）。对准，同一性比较并在此研究中获得的的16S rRNA的部分序列的系统发育分析表明，突尼斯单峰骆驼和馈送蜱感染了不同无形体菌株遗传有关A.普拉提斯吉。基于groEL基因的序列分析和系统发育研究证实了RFLP结果，并表明骆驼菌株形成了一个单独的亚簇，与感染突尼斯牛的板栗样菌株相对较近。这种经过改进的RFLP分析可快速，特异性地检测病原性板栗和板块骆驼和出没虱子的类似菌株，并具有揭示同一样品中这两种细菌共感染的内在潜力，从而减少了在分子诊断过程中克隆和测序的时间和成本。