Theileria equi, one of the primary pathogens causing equine piroplasmosis, has previously been sub-classified into a number of clades on the basis of 18S SSU rRNA gene sequence diversity. This partitioning of the parasite population has potential implications for host immunity, treatment and vaccine development. To detect and identify different clade genotypes among and within individual equine blood samples, a novel PCR-based technique was designed and optimized. Theileria equi has only recently been described in The Gambia, and the developed genotyping technique was used to analyse blood samples taken from 42 piroplasmosis-positive horses and donkeys within the country. Three different T. equi genotypes were detected within the population, including the same genotype as the recently described Theileria haneyi, with 61.9% of individuals found to be infected with more than one genotype. Overall, there was a trend that males were more likely to have a multiple genotype infection. Thus, the novel genotyping technique has been shown to be effective in analysis of field populations and offers researchers a rapid method of identifying multiple T. equi genotypes both within individuals and equine populations in epidemiological studies.

中文翻译：

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使用一种新的基因分型方法分析冈比亚的泰勒虫等位多样性。

马齿纹虫（Theileria equi）是引起马尾毛虫病的主要病原体之一，先前已根据18S SSU rRNA基因序列多样性分为多个进化枝。寄生虫种群的这种划分对宿主免疫，治疗和疫苗开发具有潜在的影响。为了检测和识别个体马血样之间以及内部的不同进化枝基因型，设计并优化了一种基于PCR的新技术。Theileria equi直到最近才在冈比亚得到描述，发达的基因分型技术被用于分析从该国42例呈螺旋体病阳性的马和驴身上采集的血液样本。在种群中检测到三种不同的马鞭草基因型，包括与最近描述的泰勒氏菌（Theileria haneyi）相同的基因型，有61种。发现9％的个体感染了一种以上的基因型。总体而言，有一种趋势是男性更可能患有多基因型感染。因此，新的基因分型技术已被证明在田间种群分析中是有效的，并为研究人员提供了一种在流行病学研究中鉴定个体和马群中多种马鞭毛虫基因型的快速方法。