Emma L. Betts
Genetic diversity of Blastocystis in non-primate animals
Betts, Emma L.; Gentekaki, Eleni; Thomasz, Adele; Breakell, Vicki; Carpenter, Angus I.; Tsaousis, Anastasios D.
Authors
Eleni Gentekaki
Adele Thomasz
Vicki Breakell
Angus I. Carpenter
Anastasios D. Tsaousis
Abstract
Blastocystis is an anaerobic protist, commonly inhabiting the intestinal tract of both humans and other animals. Blastocystis is extremely diverse comprising 17 genetically distinct subtypes in mammals and birds. Pathogenicity of this enteric microbe is currently disputed and knowledge regarding its distribution, diversity and zoonotic potential is fragmentary. Most research has focused on Blastocystis from primates, while sampling from other animals remains limited. Herein, we investigated the prevalence and distribution of Blastocystis in animals held within a conservation park in South East England. A total of 118 samples were collected from 27 vertebrate species. The barcoding region of the small-subunit ribosomal RNA was used for molecular identification and subtyping. Forty one per cent of the species were sequence positive for Blastocystis indicating a high prevalence and wide distribution among the animals in the park. Six subtypes were identified, one of which is potentially novel. Moreover, the majority of animals were asymptomatic carriers, suggesting that Blastocystis is not pathogenic in animals. This study provides a thorough investigation of Blastocystis prevalence within a wildlife park in the UK and can be used as a platform for further investigations on the distribution of other eukaryotic gut microbes.
Citation
Betts, E. L., Gentekaki, E., Thomasz, A., Breakell, V., Carpenter, A. I., & Tsaousis, A. D. (2018). Genetic diversity of Blastocystis in non-primate animals. Parasitology, 145(9), 1228-1234. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031182017002347
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Nov 26, 2017 |
Online Publication Date | Jan 17, 2018 |
Publication Date | 2018-08 |
Deposit Date | Jun 9, 2021 |
Publicly Available Date | Jun 9, 2021 |
Journal | Parasitology |
Print ISSN | 0031-1820 |
Electronic ISSN | 1469-8161 |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 145 |
Issue | 9 |
Pages | 1228-1234 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1017/s0031182017002347 |
Keywords | Blastocystis, genetic diversity, phylogeny, prevalence, subtype |
Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2779249 |
Files
Genetic Diversity Of Blastocystis In Non-primate Animals
(393 Kb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Downloadable Citations
About Edinburgh Napier Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@napier.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search