Geographical patterns of Toxoplasma gondii genetic diversity revealed by multilocus PCR-RFLP genotyping.
In recent years, an extensive collection of Toxoplasma gondii samples have been typed using a set of 10 PCR-RFLP genetic markers. Here we summarize the data reported until the end of 2012. A total of 1457 samples were typed into 189 genotypes. Overall, only a few genotypes dominate in the northern hemisphere, which is in stark contrast to the southern hemisphere where hundreds of genotypes coexist with none being notably dominant. PCR-RFLP genotype #1 (Type II clonal), #2 (Type III), #3 (Type II variant) and #10 (Type I) are identified globally. Genotypes #2 and #3 dominate in Africa, genotypes #9 (Chinese 1) and #10 are prevalent in Asia, genotypes #1, #2 and #3 are prevalent in Europe, genotypes #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5 dominate in North America (#4 and #5 are collectively known as Type 12). In Central and South America, there is no clear dominance of any genotype even though a few have relatively higher frequencies. Statistical analysis indicates significant differences among populations in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Central and South America, with only Europe and North America exhibiting similar diversity. Collectively, the results revealed distinct population structures and geographical patterns of diversity in T. gondii.
Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
E Keats
EK
Shwab
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730046, People's Republic of China.
Xing-Quan
XQ
Zhu
Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Debashree
D
Majumdar
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Hilda F J
HF
Pena
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Solange M
SM
Gennari
Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
Jitender P
JP
Dubey
Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
Chunlei
C
Su
D000349:Africa; D000569:Americas; D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia; D005060:Europe; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000235:genetics*; D014123:Toxoplasmosis / Q000469:parasitology*