Genetic diversity in Sarcocystis gigantea assessed by RFLP analysis of the ITS1 region
Jeffries, A.C.; Amaro, N.; Tenter, A.M.; Johnson, A.M.
Applied Parasitology 37(4): 275-283
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0943-0938 PMID: 9060175 Document Number: 463313
The genetic diversity among Sarcocystis gigantea isolates derived from individual cysts within a given infected animal at two abattoirs in Australia and one abattoir in Germany was studied using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the intergenic transcribed spacer region I (ITS 1) of the ribosomal RNA gene operon. S. gigantea isolates were obtained from infected sheep from Blayney (New South Wales), Katanning (Western Australia), and Detmold (North-Rhine Westfalia, Germany) in order to assess the level of diversity among isolates from different geographic locations. Polymerase chain reaction amplification and RFLP analysis of the ITS I region with the restriction enzymes HaeIII, NlaIII, and Sau3AI found no genetic variation among the isolates within one animal or among animals in the same or different locations. To our knowledge, such a field study has not yet been performed on a species in the genus Sarcocystis.