Korean J Parasitol.  2015 Jun;53(3):253-258. 10.3347/kjp.2015.53.3.253.

Sequence Variation in Superoxide Dismutase Gene of Toxoplasma gondii among Various Isolates from Different Hosts and Geographical Regions

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Shandong University, Ji'nan, Shandong, PR China. zhouhy@sdu.edu.cn
  • 2Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Ji'nan, Shandong, PR China.

Abstract

Toxoplasma gondii, an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite of the phylum Apicomplexa, can infect all warm-blooded vertebrates, including humans, livestock, and marine mammals. The aim of this study was to investigate whether superoxide dismutase (SOD) of T. gondii can be used as a new marker for genetic study or a potential vaccine candidate. The partial genome region of the SOD gene was amplified and sequenced from 10 different T. gondii isolates from different parts of the world, and all the sequences were examined by PCR-RFLP, sequence analysis, and phylogenetic reconstruction. The results showed that partial SOD gene sequences ranged from 1,702 bp to 1,712 bp and A + T contents varied from 50.1% to 51.1% among all examined isolates. Sequence alignment analysis identified total 43 variable nucleotide positions, and these results showed that 97.5% sequence similarity of SOD gene among all examined isolates. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these SOD sequences were not an effective molecular marker for differential identification of T. gondii strains. The research demonstrated existence of low sequence variation in the SOD gene among T. gondii strains of different genotypes from different hosts and geographical regions.

Keyword

Toxoplasma gondii; PCR-RFLP; superoxide dismutase; sequence variation; phylogenetic analysis

MeSH Terms

Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Base Sequence
Cats
*Genetic Variation
Goats
Humans
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
Protozoan Proteins/chemistry/*genetics/metabolism
Sequence Alignment
Sheep
Superoxide Dismutase/chemistry/*genetics/metabolism
Toxoplasma/classification/*enzymology/genetics/isolation & purification
Toxoplasmosis/*parasitology
Toxoplasmosis, Animal/*parasitology
Protozoan Proteins
Superoxide Dismutase
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