Int. J. One Health Vol.5 Article-8
Research Article
International Journal of One Health, 5: 54-59
https://doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2019.54-59
Molecular survey of zoonotic Anaplasma phagocytophilum and genetic evidence of a putative novel Anaplasma species in goats from Taif, Saudi Arabia
2. Department of Forensic Biology, College of Forensic Sciences, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Saudi Arabia.
3. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Egypt.
Background and Aim: Genus Anaplasma is of veterinary and public health importance, and its members utilize ruminants as key hosts in their epidemiology. To date, information about the occurrence and molecular identity of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and other Anaplasma species in Saudi Arabian goats is scarce. This study aimed to molecularly detect and characterize zoonotic A. phagocytophilum and other Anaplasma spp. in goats from Taif District, KSA.
Materials and Methods: Blood samples collected from 67 goats were polymerase chain reaction tested using common and A. phagocytophilum-specific primers targeting 16S rRNA and msp4 genes, respectively. Amplicons of common reactions were purified, sequenced, and analyzed.
Results: Six goats yielded positive results with common primers, whereas all animals proved negative for A. phagocytophilum. Analysis of the two successfully sequenced amplicons revealed the presence of a variant strain of Anaplasma ovis (99.52% ID) and a new Anaplasma organism, which was clustered with Anaplasma bovis (95.9% ID) and Aegyptianella pullorum (94.99% ID) and distinctly separated from all other recognized species of the genus Anaplasma.
Conclusion: The tested goats proved negative for A. phagocytophilum; however, we could not confirm that the area is pathogen free. A variant strain of A. ovis and a putative novel Anaplasma spp. were reported raising the concern of veterinary and zoonotic potential. Other genes should be sequenced and analyzed for complete identification of the detected organisms. Keywords: Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, goats, phylogeny, Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, goats, phylogeny, Saudi Arabia.
How to cite this article: Ghafar MW, Amer SAM. Molecular survey of zoonotic Anaplasma phagocytophilum and genetic evidence of a putative novel Anaplasma species in goats from Taif, Saudi Arabia. Int J One Health 2019;5:54-59.
Received: 30-03-2019 Accepted: 06-05-2019 Published online: 03-06-2019
Corresponding author: Sayed A. M. Amer E-mail: samer@nauss.edu.sa
DOI: 10.14202/IJOH.2019.54-59
Copyright: Ghafar and Amer This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.