title: Genetic diversity amongst isolates of Neospora caninum, and the development of a multiplex assay for the detection of distinct strains.
abstract: Infection with Neospora caninum is regarded as a significant cause of abortion in cattle. Despite the economic impact of this infection, relatively little is known about the biology of this parasite. In this study, mini and microsatellite DNAs were detected in the genome of N. caninum and eight loci were identified that each contained repetitive DNA which was polymorphic among different isolates of this parasite. A multiplex PCR assay was developed for the detection of genetic variation within N. caninum based on length polymorphism associated with three different repetitive markers. The utility of the multiplex PCR was demonstrated in that it was able to distinguish amongst strains of N. caninum used as either vaccine or challenge strains in animal vaccination experiments and that it could genotype N. caninum associated with naturally acquired infections of animals. The multiplex PCR is simple, rapid, informative and sensitive and should provide a valuable tool for further studies on the epidemiology of N. caninum in different host species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, New South Wales 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Qassab
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Reichel
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ivens
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Ellis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000469:parasitology; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology*; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018688:Neospora / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan