Morphological, physiological, molecular and phylogenetic characterization of new environmental isolates of Acanthamoeba spp. from the region of Bratislava, Slovakia

Abstract

Protozoa of the genus Acanthamoeba are organisms that can be generally found in the environment. The focus of this study is the detection of the presence of Acanthamoeba in different water sources and samples taken from airconditioning units. The identification of Acanthamoeba isolates was based on the morphology of cysts and trophozoites as well as PCR amplification with a genus specific primer pair JDP1 and JDP2. Growth characteristics and temperature tolerance were monitored. The pathogenic potential was tested in vitro on Vero cell cultures. Genotype identification was based on the sequencing of the GTSA.B1 PCR amplimer of 18S ribosomal DNA. The data obtained revealed that the isolates belong to T3 and T4 genotypes. One T3 and one T4 isolate contain a group I intron. The 933 base pair intron found in a genotype T4 isolate is considerably larger compared to formerly described introns of Acanthamoeba griffini (genotype T3) and A. lenticulata (genotype T5). This is the first report detailing the environmental distribution of the Acanthamoeba genotypes in the region of Bratislava, Slovakia.

Thermophilic potentially pathogenic amoebae isolated from natural water bodies in Poland and their molecular characterization

“…Performed alignment showed 1 indel and 7 transversions among our T4 sequences ( Table VI) and revealed that one of our Acanthamoeba sp. T4 sequence (HQ632779) is identical to our three sequences obtained earlier from Polish fountain (JQ408990) and lake (JQ408989 and HQ632778) water and eight sequences from GenBank: Acanthamoeba T4 GQ342606 sequence obtained from bronchoaspirate fluid (BAL) of 15-year boy after the allogenic transplantation of bone marrow in Poland (Lanocha et al 2009), Acanthamoeba T4 GQ397463, GQ397464, GQ397467 and GQ397471 sequences obtained from Slovenian swimming pool water, swimming pool scrape and salt cave salt water (Nagyová et al 2010), Acanthamoeba sp. EF140627 sequence obtained from infected cornea of amoebic keratitis patients in Korea, Acanthamoeba polyphaga AY237735 sequence obtained from hospital water network in France and Korean Acanthamoeba lugdunensis AF005995 sequence.…”

“…They are isolated from water, soil, dust and air samples throughout the world. These of them, which may live also within other organisms as parasites are called amphizoic (Nagyová et al 2010) and they include Acanthamoeba spp., Balamuthia mardrillaris, Naegleria fowlerii, Sappinia pedata and probably Hartmannella vermiformis (Kuiper et al 2006;da Rocha-Azevedo et al 2009;Gianinazzi et al 2010). The source of infection is mainly water or soil containing amoebae that enter host's organism through corneal surface, nasal mucosa, and breaks in the skin or via an oral route (Schuster and Visvesvara 2004).…”

“…Genotypes T2 -T6, T10 and T11 are causative agents of AK and T4 genotype is dominant. Genotypes T1, T2, T4, T5, T10, T12 and T18 are responsible for GAE and other non-AK infections (Nagyová et al 2010;Nuprasert et al 2010;. A new geno-*Corresponding author: boskot@univ.szczecin.pl Malgorzata Adamska et al 434 type, found in bronchoaspirate fluid of a man with chronic marrow leukaemia and bronchoalveolar lavage of newborn with symptoms of atypical pneumonia and named 'T16' (Lanocha et al 2009) may be involved in those clinical symptoms in humans.…”

“…All described FLA amoebae are potentially pathogenic for humans and animals and are found in different kinds of water reservoirs throughout the world, including human-related aquatic habitats (da Rocha-Azevedo et al 2009;Gianinazzi et al 2010;Nagyová et al 2010). Therefore, the aim of this study was molecular detection, identification and characterization of these amphizoic FLA strains in human-exposed natural water bodies in order to evaluate the risk of the pathogenic amoebae infections in North-Western Poland.…”

Inskripcie v stredovekom archeologickom materiáli z územia Slovenska I.

“…Základná katalogizácia značkovaných tehál vykazuje len novoveké nápisy a vročenia (Nagy-Nagyová 2015). Pozoruhodný je nález keramických slnečných hodín z kartuziánskeho kláštora na Kláštorisku (rozmery 22,7 × 18,7 cm, hrúbka 3,8 cm -obr.…”