title: Tritrichomonas foetus from domestic cats and cattle are genetically distinct.
abstract: The genetic relationship amongst Tritrichomonas foetus isolated from domestic cats and cattle was investigated by DNA sequencing of the internal transcribed region of the ribosomal DNA unit and the TR7/TR8 variable-length repeat. The results reject the hypothesis that T. foetus from domestic cats is genetically identical to T. foetus in cattle. We suggest recognition of a 'cat genotype' and a 'cattle genotype' of T. foetus. Review of public nucleotide repositories revealed that the 'cat genotype' has not been isolated from cattle nor the 'cattle genotype' recovered from cats. However, at least one cat isolate has been shown to induce disease in experimentally infected cattle. We conclude that these genotypes fall within the single species T. foetus.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. jan.slapeta@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Slapeta
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McDonell
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Emery
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D002415:Cats; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000737:chemistry; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000469:parasitology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment / Q000662:veterinary; D016835:Tritrichomonas foetus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D021901:DNA, Intergenic; D016054:DNA, Protozoan