Angiostrongylus costaricensis is a zoonotic parasitic nematode described for the first time in 1971 by Pedro Morera and Rodolfo Céspedes in Costa Rica. This parasite causes an infection known as abdominal angiostrongyliasis, affecting mainly school-aged children and young adults. Infection with A. costaricensis has been associated with a myriad of rodent and mollusk species in the Americas and the Caribbean, as its natural hosts and reservoirs. In this commemorative review, we highlight the extensive research collected through a 50-year journey, which includes ecological, pathological, and molecular studies on A. costaricensis and its implicated disease. We also identify major knowledge gaps in its evolutionary history, the ecological role of imported and invasive mollusk species, and immune response. We propose that the advent of -omics analyses will allow us to gather novel information regarding A. costaricensis biology and infection dynamics, as well as to promote the design of much-needed sensitive and specific diagnostic tools.
Mutation analysis of the low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene revealed a novel 8-bp duplication after nucleotide 681 in a Costa Rican patient with familial hypercholesterolaemia. The frameshift caused by this mutation results in a premature termination codon in the EGF precursor homology domain of the mature LDLR, whereby a truncated protein of the first 206 residues with an additional 39 abnormal residues would be created. The insertion overlaps with previously described duplications of 18 bp and 21 bp, thus revealing an insertional hotspot in exon 4 of the LDLR gene. We propose that the structural features of this region of the LDLR gene contribute significantly to genetic instability and the subsequent DNA duplication via an endogenous sequence-directed mechanism of mutagenesis.
The fundamental difference between a virus and microorganisms lies in the way they generate progeny and some viruses destroy the cell membrane, a phenomenon called cytolysis. The herpes virus has this cytolytic capacity and in veterinary medicine, several important herpes viruses have been described, among which is the Canine Herpes Virus type 1 (CaHV-1) and this study contributed both to the genomic characterization of a national isolate of the CaHV-1 virus -called RP5-as well as to small animal veterinary medicine with a specific, sensitive, and fast diagnostic method result. For this, detection of the CaHV-1 glycoprotein C gene was performed by Polymerase Chain Reaction using a pair of primers designed in silico. Using a temperature gradient thermocycler, the alignment temperature (55ºC) was established by the clear and unequivocal observation of a DNA fragment of approximately 200 bp. These fragments were sequenced and a percentage of nucleotide identity (NIP > 94%) was established with respect to the official GenBank data and indicates that the amplified fragment corresponds to the gC gene fragment of CaHV-1. Thus, this methodology constitutes another technique of choice for the detection of CaHV-1 in Small Animal Medicine.
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