Isolation and genetic characterisation of Toxoplasma gondii from a red-handed howler monkey (Alouatta belzebul), a jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi), and a black-eared opossum (Didelphis aurita) from Brazil

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii isolates are highly diverse in domestic animals from Brazil. However, little is known about the genetics of this parasite from wild mammals in the same region. Reveal genetic similarity or difference of T. gondii among different animal populations is necessary for us to understand transmission of this parasite. Here we reported isolation and genetic characterisation of three T. gondii isolates from wild animals in Brazil. The parasite was isolated by bioassay in mice from tissues of a young male red handed howler monkey (Alouatta belzebul), an adult male jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi), and an adult female black-eared opossum (Didelphis aurita). The monkey and the jaguarundi had inhabited the Zoo of Parque Estadual Dois Irmãos, Pernambuco State, Northeastern Brazil, for 1 year and 8 years, respectively. The wild black-eared opossum was captured in São Paulo State, Southeastern Brazil, and euthanised for this study because it was seropositive for T. gondii (titre 1:100 by the modified agglutination test, MAT). Ten PCR-RFLP (Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) markers, SAG1, SAG2, SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1 and Apico, were used to genotype the isolates. T. gondii was isolated from the brain and heart homogenate of the monkey, the muscle homogenate of the jaguarundi, and the heart homogenate of the black-eared opossum. This was the first isolation of T. gondii from a neotropical felid from Brazil. The isolate from the monkey (TgRhHmBr1) was not virulent in mice, whereas the isolates from the jaguarundi (TgJagBr1) and the black-eared opossum (TgOpBr1) were virulent in mice. The genotype of the isolate from the monkey has been identified in isolates from a goat and ten chickens in the same region of Brazil, suggesting that it may be a common lineage circulating in this region. The genotypes of the isolates from the jaguarundi and the black-eared opossum have not been previously reported. Although there are already 88 genotypes identified from a variety of animal hosts in Brazil, new genotypes are continuously being identified from different animal species, indicating an extremely high diversity of T. gondii in the population.

Genetic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii isolates from eared doves (Zenaida auriculata) in Brazil

“…Other domestic and wild animals have also been used to isolate and genotype Toxoplasma strains in many parts of the world, including Brazil (YAI et al, 2009;DUBEY et al, 2011;PENA et al, 2011;CABRAL et al, 2013;MACIEL et al, 2014;SILVA et al, 2014). These studies have shown that the Brazilian T. gondii strains are highly diverse, in comparison with those from other parts of the world.…”

Serological survey of Toxoplamosis in South American coatis (Nasua nasua) in Tietê Ecological Park, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

“…However, only limited information on T. gondii circulating in wild animals is available in Brazil (YAI et al, 2009;DUBEY et al, 2011;PENA et al, 2011;CABRAL et al, 2013;CAÑÓN-FRANCO et al, 2013;VITALIANO et al, 2014aVITALIANO et al, , 2014b.…”

Isolamento e caracterização biológica e genotípica de Toxoplasma gondii em animais selvagens do Brasil

“…Título semelhante foi encontrado no gambá-de-orelha-branca do presente estudo (título de 50). Pena et al (2011) detectaram em um gambá-de-orelha-preta anticorpos anti-T.gondii, pelo MAT, com título de 100. Na Guiana Francesa, 20% dos 15 gambás-de-orelha-branca avaliados também estavam positivos (DE THOISY et al, 2003).…”

“…A caracterização genotípica de diferentes isolados de T. gondii através de métodos moleculares tem sido realizada em sua maioria com amostras de humanos, ovinos, caprinos, cães, gatos, aves e com uma menor frequência em animais selvagens (KHAN et al, 2006;CAVALVANTE et al, 2007;DUBEY et al, 2007d;DUBEY et al, 2008;PENA et al, 2008;PENA et al, 2011;DA SILVA et al, 2011).…”

“…A caracterização genotípica de diferentes isolados de T. gondii através de métodos moleculares tem sido realizada em sua maioria com amostras de humanos, ovinos, caprinos, cães, gatos, aves e com uma menor frequência em animais selvagens (KHAN et al, 2006;PENA et al, 2008;YAI et al, 2009;PENA et al, 2011;DA SILVA et al, 2011). Entretanto, esforços recentes para genotipar isolados de T. gondii provenientes de vida selvagem mostram que os chamados genótipos "exóticos" ou "atípicos" não são anomalias insignificantes na estrutura populacional deste parasito, e sim membros importantes do pool de genes que proporcionam uma melhor representação da vasta gama de hospedeiros utilizada por este parasito (WENDTE et al, 2011).…”