Vet World Vol.14 March-2021 Article-12
Research Article
Veterinary World, 14(3): 634-639
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.634-639
Phylogenetic study of Theileria ovis and Theileria lestoquardi in sheep from Egypt: Molecular evidence and genetic characterization
2. Department of Animal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sadat City, Sadat City 32897, Menoufia, Egypt.
3. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sadat City, Menoufia 32897, Egypt.
4. Department of Zoology, College of Science, Misurata University, Maturate, Libya.
5. Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
6. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia.
7. Department of Gerontological Nursing, College of Nursing, Alexandria University, Egypt.
8. Department of Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, 51452 Qassim, Saudi Arabia.
9. Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Dentistry, Al-Zulfi, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia.
10. Department of Biology, College of Science, Al-Zulfi, Majmaah University, Majmaah 11952, Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia.
11. Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, south valley university, Qena 83523, Egypt.
Background and Aim: Ovine theileriosis caused by Theileria ovis and Theileria lestoquardi is an important infectious disease affecting small ruminants in regions of the tropic and subtropic zones. There is limited studies about ovine theileriosis in Egypt; so the present study aims to assess the occurrence of ovine theileriosis in Egypt at the molecular level.
Materials and Methods: Blood samples were collected from 115 randomly selected sheep, which were apparently healthy; the ages of the sampled sheep ranged from 1 to 5 years old, from a local breed (barkae and balade), and showed no symptoms indicating infection with Theileria spp. The study was conducted in three governorates representing Lower Egypt (Menoufia and Beheira) and Upper Egypt (El-Wady El-Geded). All blood samples were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and semi-nested PCR to target Theileria spp. 18S rRNA genes. Positive samples were sequenced, and these sequences were analyzed using nucleotide basic local alignment search tool (BLAST).
Results: Six animals (5.22%) were PCR-positive carriers for ovine theileriosis. Nucleotide BLAST and phylogenetic analyses of the six obtained sequences showed that T. ovis was present in five animals (4.37%) in Menoufia (n=2) and El-Wady El-Geded (n=3), whereas T. lestoquardi was detected in 1 animal (0.87%) in El-Wady El-Geded.
Conclusion: This study is the first to provide molecular evidence, genetic characterization, and phylogenetic analysis of ovine Theileria spp. in Egypt. Specifically, T. lestoquardi and T. ovis carrier statuses of sheep were confirmed. These results highlight the importance of developing an effective control strategy against ovine theileriosis carriers that might develop and/or spread theileriosis. Keywords: Egypt, polymerase chain reaction, phylogeny, Theileria lestoquardi, Theileria ovis.
Keywords: Egypt, polymerase chain reaction, phylogeny, Theileria lestoquardi, Theileria ovis.
How to cite this article: Al-Hosary AA, ElSify A, Salama AA, Nayel M, Elkhtam A, Elmajdoub LO, Rizk MA, Hawash MM, Al-Wabel MA, Almuzaini AM, Ahmed LSE, Paramasivam A, Mickymaray S, Omar MA (2021) Phylogenetic study of Theileria ovis and Theileria lestoquardi in sheep from Egypt: Molecular evidence and genetic characterization, Veterinary World, 14(3): 634-639.
Received: 06-11-2020 Accepted: 01-02-2021 Published online: 13-03-2021
Corresponding author: E-mail: mos.mohamed@qu.edu.sa
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.634-639
Copyright: Al-Hosary, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.