title: Genetic characterisation of Cryptosporidium from a wild population of eastern grey kangaroos Macropus giganteus inhabiting a water catchment.
abstract: Molecular characterisation of Cryptosporidium oocysts isolated from faeces collected from eastern grey kangaroos Macropus giganteus inhabiting an Australian water catchment revealed that this host was susceptible to three types of Cryptosporidium. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the 18S rDNA, Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein (COWP) and a 70kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) identified an isolate identical to the described Cryptosporidium 'marsupial' genotype. A second isolate had less than 0.5% variation, compared to the described Cryptosporidium 'marsupial' genotype, within the sequences of the 18S rDNA, COWP and HSP70 and 10% variation in the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1). Multilocus analysis of the third Cryptosporidium revealed a novel genotype that had a degree of genetic variation, at the four loci characterised, which was greater than or equivalent to that used to discriminate between currently recognised Cryptosporidium species. These findings have increased our current understanding on the molecular epidemiology of Cryptosporidium in Australian wildlife and have provided information on the types of Cryptosporidium marsupials may shed into the environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia. mpower@vetsci.usyd
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Power
authors.forename: Martin B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Slade
authors.forename: Nicholas C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Sangster
authors.forename: Duncan A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Veal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D004777:Environment; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007614:Macropodidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C106305:oocyst wall protein, Cryptosporidium