Occurrence and multilocus genotyping of Giardia duodenalis from post-weaned dairy calves in Sichuan province, China

Abstract

Giardia duodenalis is a zoonotic parasitic protist and poses a threat to human and animal health. This study investigated the occurrence of G. duodenalis infection in post-weaned calves from Sichuan province, China. Faecal samples were collected from a total of 306 post-weaned calves (3–12 months old) from 10 farms, including 4 intensive feeding farms and 6 free-ranging farms. The overall infection rate of G. duodenalis was 41.2% (126/306) based on the PCR results at any of the three genetic loci: beta-giardin (bg), triose-phosphate isomerase (tpi) and glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) genes. Giardia duodenalis assemblages E (n = 115, 91.3%), A (n = 3, 2.4%), and A mixed with E (n = 8, 6.3%) were identified among the 126 positive specimens. Multilocus sequence typing of G. duodenalis revealed 34 assemblage E multilocus genotypes (MLGs), 1 assemblage A MLG and 7 mixed assemblage (A and E) MLGs. The eBURST data showed a high degree of genetic diversity within assemblage E MLGs. The phylogenetic tree revealed that MLG E3 was the primary MLG subtype in Sichuan province and also the most widely distributed in China.

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Giardia duodenalis in dairy cattle in Central Inner Mongolia, Northern China

“…Seven assemblage A + E were present in postweaned calves (n = 3), young cattle (n = 2), and adult cattle (n = 2). This finding is consistent with the report of preweaned calves containing only assemblage E in Sichuan, China 33 , and postweaned calves containing assemblages E, A, and A + E 34 . Furthermore, it is inconsistent with reports mentioning that assemblages E and A were detected in preweaned calves and postweaned calves in China 31 , 41 , USA 59 , 60 , and Europe 70 .…”

“…In China, the prevalence of G. duodenalis in this study was only lower than the prevalence of G . duodenalis in cattle in Shanghai (60.1%, 492/818) 32 , Sichuan (41.2%, 126/306) 34 , and Guangdong (74.2%, 288/388) 38 and higher than the prevalence data reported in Xinjiang (13.4%, 69/514) 4 ; Ningxia (4.38%, 74/1688) 37 and (2.12%, 29/1366) 24 ; Heilongjiang (5.2%, 42/814) 25 , 26 , (4.98%, 16/321) 27 and (15.4%, 8/52) 28 ; Jilin (6.63%, 25/377) 28 ; Liaoning (8.4%, 19/226) 28 ; Hubei ( 22.7%, 77/339) 29 ; Shandong (13.04%, 9/69, PCR) and (18.84%, 13/69, rapid kit) 30 ; Shaanxi (18.87%, 70/371) 31 ; Sichuan (9.4%, 26/278) 33 ; Beijing (1.70%, 14/822) 35 ; Gansu (1.0%, 14/1414) 36 and (2.63%, 33/1257) 37 ; Guangdong (2.2%, 31/1440) 39 ; Hebei and Tianjin (4.7%, 49/1040) 40 ; Henan (7.2%, 128/1777) 41 ; Jiangsu (20.6%, 281/1366) 42 ; Jiangxi (9.2%, 52/566) 43 ; Qinghai (10%, 39/389) 45 ; Tibet (3.8%, 17/442) 46 ; Yunnan (10.49%, 41/ 391) 47 ; Taiwan (19.87%, 31/156) 48 and that reported in the only survey on G. duodenalis in Inner Mongolia (9.3%, 10/108) 44 . However, it is difficult to compare prevalence data because they are influenced by a range of factors, including study design, diagnostic method, geographical conditions, total number of samples, age of animals, and sampling season 4 .…”

What is and why do we have to know the phylogenetic tree?

“…Other specific genes were also utilized in the phylogenetic studies to identify genotypes of Cryptosporidium spp. [11] , and G. lamblia assemblaages [12] such as those encoding Cryptosporidium HSP70, and betagiardin (bg), respectively. It is worth noting that multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is utilized in investigating the genetic diversity of T. vaginalis Egyptian isolates.…”

Molecular epidemiology and multilocus genotyping of Giardia duodenalis in individuals attending major public hospitals in Shiraz, southwestern Iran: A public health concern

“…Although there is agreement on the ability of these loci to genetically classify different G. duodenalis assemblages, conflicting results have been reported regarding the efficacy of a single locus in distinguishing G. duodenalis populations into assemblages and sub-assemblages. Thus, in order to enhance accuracy, a numeric multilocus genotyping (MLG) procedure was introduced, which involves the simultaneous analysis of at least two genes ( tpi , bg , and gdh ) ( Dan et al, 2019 ; Hashemi-Hafshejani et al, 2022 ; Heng et al, 2022 ; Köster et al, 2021 ; Oh et al, 2021 ; Rafiei et al, 2020 ).…”