Significant morphological but little molecular differences between Trypanosoma of rodents from Alaska.
We examined blood smears of 173 rodents and 33 shrews captured at 4 sites in the Gates of the Arctic National Park, northern Alaska, in summer 2002. Trypanosoma spp. were detected in the plasma of 5 Microtus oeconomus, 4 Microtus miurus, and 1 Lemmus trimucronatus. The trypomastigote morphology from different individuals of M. oeconomus caught at the same site and of M. miurus from different sites varied significantly. The 4 DNA sequences obtained from the blood smear positive samples contained 2 different haplotypes very similar to each other and to that of Trypanosoma microti. Of possible vectors of blood parasites, the flea Amalaraeus dissimilis was collected from M. miurus.
Laakkonen
Juha
J
Finnish Forest Research Institute, PO Box 18, FIN-01301, Vantaa, Finland. juha.laakkonen@metla.fi
Smith
Andrew
A
Hildebrandt
Kyndall
K
Niemimaa
Jukka
J
Henttonen
Heikki
H
D000413:Alaska; D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000469:parasitology*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000662:veterinary; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011247:Pregnancy; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D012788:Shrews / Q000469:parasitology; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000469:parasitology; D014345:Trypanosoma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D014352:Trypanosomiasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S