Molecular Characterizations of Cystic Echinococcus from Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Al-Diwaniyah Province / Iraq

Abstract

The study included 25 samples of hydatid cysts from one humped Camel (Camelus dromedarius), which were collected by examining 632 slaughtered animals from slaughterhouses in Al-Diwaniyah province / Iraq during the period between the first of September 2020 to the end of February 2021.   The aim of study  to investigating  the molecular characterization of hydatid cysts isolates from one humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) and common genotypes (strains) of the Echinococcus granulosus  that infect Iraqi camels in Al-Diwaniyah province /middle of  Iraq by using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique .

The results of the technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed the success of the DNA amplification processes extracted from the protoscolesis  of 25 hydatid cysts samples, as the results were positive in all samples that were used for this purpose at a molecular weight of 450 bp.

The study of the sequence of the Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 cox1 gene (Cox1 gene) and the phylogenetic tree analysis and comparison with the gene bank (NCBI-BLAST) to determine the common strains of camels in Al-Diwaniyah province showed presence the G3 (buffalo strain)   and G1 (sheep strain ) genotypes in  iraqi camels (80%  and  20% respectively)  , G6 (camel strain) was did not appeared in this study .

The genetic analysis of the (COX1) gene indicated that the largest match of local isolates in Iraqi camels was with Iranian isolates of the same type, with a genetic match ratio ranging between 99.14% -100 % when the total genetic variation (0.010-040).  Isolates were registered in Gen bank and serial numbers were given for the study, which represents the G3 strain of buffalo and G1 strain of sheep registered in this study.