title: Echinococcus granulosus strain typing in North Africa: comparison of eight nuclear and mitochondrial DNA fragments.
abstract: Recent studies of Echinococcus granulosus molecular strain typing have enabled a better understanding of the transmission cycle of cystic echinococcosis. There have been many publications in this area but there is a need for the evaluation of these tools. We have attempted to respond to this need in our study, which assessed 8 DNA fragments of 40 E. granulosus cysts from North Africa. Parasitological material was collected from 5 types of intermediate hosts, in 5 different countries. The primers chosen to amplify DNA targets were defined either in nuclear DNA, or in mitochondrial DNA. After amplification, PCR products were sequenced. The sequences obtained were aligned and comparisons were made within the group and with GenBank sequences. Whether the target was nuclear or mitochondrial, the same 2 main groups of genotypes were found. The first one, the 'sheep' strain, was found in the human, sheep and cattle samples collected in North Africa. The second one, the 'camel' strain, was found in the camel cysts and cattle and human cysts from Mauritania. These findings further confirm the congruence of the data given by the nuclear and the mitochondrial genome.
authors.affiliation: Santé Environnement Rural Franche-Comté and WHO Centre Collaborating for Prevention and Treatment of Human Echinococcosis, University of Franche-Comté, 25000 Besançon, France. jean-mathieu.bart@univ-fcomte.fr
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bart
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bardonnet
authors.forename: M C B
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Elfegoun
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dumon
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dia
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Vuitton
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Piarroux
mesh_terms: D000352:Africa, Northern; D000818:Animals; D002162:Camelus; D002417:Cattle; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000635:transmission; D004446:Echinococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D016054:DNA, Protozoan