Genetic Affinity of Echinococcus granulosus protoscolex in Human and Sheep in East Azerbaijan, Iran

Echinococcosis caused by the larval form of Echinococcus granulosus (E. granulosus) is known as an important zoonotic disease in various parts of the world, including Iran. The genetic diversity of this parasite is very high, particularly in areas where the disease is endemic. It has been suggested in the literature from different parts of the world that diverse factors, such as parasite life cycle, transmission pathways, pathologic disease, immunization, and disease control can be affected by the genetic diversity of the parasite. Various studies indicated sheep strain G۱ as the most common genotype throughout the world. This strain is commonly found in the liver and lung repeatedly causing echinococcosis in humans, sheep, and cattle. The present study was conducted to determine the genetic affinity between the protoscolex of E. granulosus in humans and sheep in East Azerbaijan province, Iran for the first time. A total of ۱۲۰ hydatid cyst samples were collected, ۶۰ of which were from people who referred to the hospitals of East Azerbaijan and ۶۰ were from the sheep slaughtered in Tabriz slaughterhouse. Following DNA extraction, certain regions of the cox۱ gene were amplified and evaluated by the polymerase chain reaction. The replicated parts in all isolates had the same size of ۴۵۰ bp. Electrophoresis was followed by selecting a total of ۶۰ suitable samples, including ۳۰ human samples and ۳۰ sheep samples and sending them for genome sequencing. The overlap of the samples was investigated using the BLAST software. The results of BLAST, sequencing, and overlap demonstrated a genetic linkage of approximately ۹۱.۷۶% between the protoscolex of E. granulosus in human and sheep.

کلیدواژه ها:

DNA extraction ، Genetic affinity ، Hydatid cyst ، PCR ، Sequencing