title: Genetic diversity and phylogenetic analysis of Tams1 of Theileria annulata isolates from three continents between 2000 and 2012.
abstract: Theileria annulata, which is part of the Theileria sergenti/Theileria buffeli/Theileria orientalis group, preferentially infects cattle and results in high mortality and morbidity in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Central Asia. The polypeptide Tams1 is an immunodominant major merozoite piroplasm surface antigen of T. annulata that could be used as a marker for epidemiological studies and phylogenetic analysis. In the present study, a total of 155 Tams1 sequences were investigated for genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships through phylogenetic analysis. Results showed that the Tams1 sequences were divided into two major groups and that distribution for some isolates also exhibited geographic specificity. As targeting polymorphic genes for parasite detection may result in underestimation of infection, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using two different probes targeting tams-1 genes of these two groups can be more credible. In addition, the direction of the spread of the disease was discovered to be from the Mediterranean or the tropical zone to the Eurasian peninsula, Middle East, Southern Asia, and Africa, particularly for Group 2. A similar occurrence was also found between the Ms1 gene of Theileria lestoquardi and the Tams1 gene of T. annulata, which explains cross-immunogenicity to a certain extent. However, no potential glycosylation site in the Tams1 of T. annulata was found in this study, which illustrated that instead of N-glycosylation, other modifications have more significant effects on the immunogenicity of the Tams1 protein.
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China ; These authors contributed equally to the work.
authors.forename: Jiay
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Central Hospital of Tai'an City, Tai'an, Shandong, 271018, China ; These authors contributed equally to the work.
authors.forename: Xianyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China ; These authors contributed equally to the work.
authors.forename: Yuge
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Foreign Languages, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Zhihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Jianzhu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Huijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Ruixue
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: College of Veterinary Medicine, Research Center for Animal Disease Control Engineering Shandong Province, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China.
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
keywords: Tams1; Theileria annulata; genetic diversity; phylogenetic analysis; three continents