title: Molecular epidemiology of Echinococcosis from food producing animals in north India.
abstract: Echinococcosis is an important medical, veterinary and economic concern in India. Ten cysts were randomly selected from each intermediate host species (cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and pigs). Either the germinal layer (sterile cysts) or protoscoleces (fertile cysts) were collected for molecular characterization. A 434 base pair fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase-1 gene was amplified using PCR from each isolate. Ten representative samples (2 from each intermediate host species) were sequenced in both the directions from which readable sequences were obtained from nine for phylogenetic analysis (NCBI, Blast). Phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome oxidase I gene revealed that seven (77.7%) isolates, from cattle (2), pigs (2), buffaloes (1) and goat (2) were clustered with the Indian Buffalo (G3) strain of Echinococcus granulosus, while two (22.2%) isolates from sheep were clustered with the sheep strain (G1) of E. granulosus. Phylogenetic analysis of the cytochrome oxidase-1 gene revealed that the buffalo strain (G3) and common sheep strain (G1) are cycling among livestock in north India and that these strains are highly adapted to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and pigs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health, College of Veterinary Sciences, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. balbirpau@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Balbir Bagicha
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Jagdish Kamal
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghatak
authors.forename: Rajnish
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Mandeep Singh
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Bal
authors.forename: Aashuma
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tuli
authors.forename: Jatinder Paul Singh
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gill
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000469:parasitology*; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D048209:Echinococcus granulosus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016266:Food Parasitology; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV