Isolation and RFLP genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii from the mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) in Grenada, West Indies.
Little is known of the genetic diversity and epidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection in wildlife in Caribbean Islands. The prevalence and genetic diversity of T. gondii in mongooses (Herpestes auropunctatus) was investigated. During 2011 and 2012, 91 mongooses were trapped in different parts of Grenada, bled, euthanized, and examined at necropsy. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 27 mongooses tested by the modified agglutination test (cut-off titer 25). Muscles (heart, tongue, neck) of 25 of the seropositive mongooses were bioassayed for T. gondii infection in mice. Viable T. gondii was isolated by bioassay in mice from four mongooses with MAT titers of 1:50 in two, 1:200 for one, and 1:400 for one mongoose. The four T. gondii isolates were further propagated in cell culture. Strain typing of T. gondii DNA extracted from cell-cultured tachyzoites using the 10 PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1, and Apico revealed one isolate belongs to the Type III (ToxoDB #2) lineage, two to ToxoDB#7 lineage, and one to the ToxoDB #216 lineage. This is the first report of T. gondii isolation and genotyping in H. auropunctatus worldwide.
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Shanti
S
Choudhary
Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathobiology Academic Programs School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George's University, Grenada, West Indies.
Ulrike
U
Zieger
Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathobiology Academic Programs School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George's University, Grenada, West Indies.
Ravindra N
RN
Sharma
Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathobiology Academic Programs School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George's University, Grenada, West Indies.
Alfred
A
Chikweto
Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Pathobiology Academic Programs School of Veterinary Medicine, St. George's University, Grenada, West Indies.
Keshaw P
KP
Tiwari
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Leandra R
LR
Ferreira
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Solange
S
Oliveira
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Lovell J
LJ
Barkley
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Shiv Kumar
SK
Verma
Oliver C H
OC
Kwok
Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Chunlei
C
Su
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Building 1001, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
J P
JP
Dubey
D000818:Animals; D005838:Genotype; D008988:Herpestidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D014900:West Indies / Q000453:epidemiology