Presence of atypical genotypes of Toxoplasma gondii isolated from cats in the state of Bahia, Northeast of Brazil

Abstract

In this study, 20 blood, heart, and brain samples were collected from euthanized cats at the Zoonosis Control Centers and Veterinary Clinics in the state of Bahia, Brazil. The sera were examined for anti-T. gondii antibodies using the indirect hemagglutination test. The brains and hearts of seven seropositive cats were ground, and peptide digestion was performed for bioassay in mice. Toxoplasma gondii was isolated in 5/7 (71.42%) of seropositive cats. In these isolates, the parasite was genotyped using the Polymerase chain reaction, associated with the DNA fragment polymorphism obtained by restriction enzyme PCR-RFLP technique with 11 markers (SAG1, 5’-SAG2, 3’-SAG2, alt. SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1, Apico, and CS3) and 15 microsatellite markers (TUB-2, W35, TgM-A, B18, B17, M33, IV.1, XI.1, M48, M102, N60, N82, AA, N61, N83). The analysis of the isolates by PCR-RFLP revealed five distinct genotypes. Three of these genotypes have never been reported before; one corresponded to the TgDgCo13 genotype, and one incomplete genotype. In genotyping analysis using microsatellite markers, it was observed that the isolates showed atypical alleles in the typing and fingerprint markers. This revealed five atypical genotypes. The typing marker B17 showed the highest degree of atypia. This study is the first to report the genotyping of T. gondii obtained from naturally infected cats in Bahia, Northeast Brazil. The genotypes found in this study were different from those found in other studies conducted in Bahia, which included different species of animals. None of the clonal lineages I, II, or III were found. This study demonstrates the diversity of T. gondii in the study region, with the presence of unusual genotypes, reaffirming the genetic variability of the parasite in Brazil.

Genetic diversity of Toxoplasma gondii in South America: occurrence, immunity, and fate of infection

“…Deiró et al [ 28 ] isolated non-archetypal strains of T. gondii from seven naturally infected cats in Bahia, in the Northeast region of Brazil. PCR–RFLP with 11 genetic markers revealed four distinct genotypes.…”

“…PCR–RFLP with 11 genetic markers revealed four distinct genotypes. In the genotyping analysis using microsatellite markers, five non-archetypal genotypes were detected in the cats [ 28 ].…”

Toxoplasma Gondii Infection in the Eurasian Beaver (Castor Fiber) in Switzerland: Seroprevalence, Genetic Characterization, and Clinicopathologic Relevance

“…Toxoplasma gondii exhibits a great genetic variability, which may be associated with different virulence phenotypes. Initially, three clonal archetypes, I, II, and III, were recognized, and these seem to prevail in the US and Europe, but in recent years, so-called nonclonal and variant or recombinant genotypes have been found (Grigg et al 2001; Deiró et al 2021). Those nonclonal genotypes are sometimes associated with more severe clinical disease in humans and animals (de-la-Torre et al 2013; Hamilton et al 2019; Pardini et al 2019; Casartelli-Alves et al 2021).…”

Exploring the epidemiological role of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the life cycle of Toxoplasma gondii

“…gondii shows high genetic variabilities. Besides the well-known archetypal genotypes I, II and III, a series of studies showed that there are new variant and non-clonal genotypes, which may show different virulence phenotypes (Grigg et al, 2001;Deiró et al, 2021). In Europe, type II is most prevalent not only in animals but also in humans (Fernández-Escobar et al, 2022a); however, non-clonal genotypes might occur, which may be associated with severe clinical outcome (Boothroyd and Grigg, 2002;Elbez-Rubinstein et al, 2009;Pomares et al, 2011).…”