1. Babesia pisicii n. sp. and Babesia canis Infect European Wild Cats, Felis silvestris, in Romania
- Author
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Luciana Cătălina Panait, Kristýna Hrazdilová, Angela Monica Ionică, Costică Adam, Georgiana Deak, Călin Mircea Gherman, Gabriel Chişamera, and Andrei Daniel Mihalca
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Microbiology (medical) ,QH301-705.5 ,Babesia pisicii n. sp ,030231 tropical medicine ,European wild felids ,Zoology ,Microbiology ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Virology ,parasitic diseases ,mitochondrial genes ,medicine ,Biology (General) ,biology ,18S rDNA ,Cytochrome b ,Felis ,Cytochrome c oxidase subunit I ,Babesiosis ,biology.organism_classification ,medicine.disease ,030104 developmental biology ,Canis ,Genetic distance ,piroplasmids ,Babesia ,Babesia canis - Abstract
Haemoparasites of the genus Babesia infect a wide range of domestic and wild animals. Feline babesiosis is considered endemic in South Africa, while data on Babesia spp. infection in felids in Europe is scarce. Using samples from 51 wild felids, 44 Felis silvestris and 7 Lynx lynx, the study aimed to determine the presence and genetic diversity of Babesia spp. in wild felids in Romania by analyzing the 18S rDNA and two mitochondrial markers, cytochrome b (Cytb) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) genes. By 18S rDNA analyses, Babesia spp. DNA was detected in 20 European wild felids. All sequences showed 100% similarity to B. canis by BLAST analysis. Conversely, Cytb and COI analyses revealed the presence of two Babesia spp., B. pisicii n. sp., which we herein describe, and B. canis. The pairwise comparison of both mitochondrial genes of B. pisicii n. sp. showed a genetic distance of at least 10.3% from the most closely related species, B. rossi. Phylogenetic analyses of Cytb and COI genes revealed that B. pisicii n. sp. is related to the so-called “large” canid-associated Babesia species forming a separate subclade in a sister position to B. rossi.
- Published
- 2021
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