Molecular Identification of Trypanosoma evansi Isolated from Arabian Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Riyadh and Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Dina M Metwally; Isra M Al-Turaiki; Najwa Altwaijry; Samia Q Alghamdi; Abdullah D Alanazi

doi:10.3390/ani11041149

Molecular Identification of Trypanosoma evansi Isolated from Arabian Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Riyadh and Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Animals (Basel). 2021 Apr 17;11(4):1149. doi: 10.3390/ani11041149.

Authors

Dina M Metwally^{1

2}, Isra M Al-Turaiki³, Najwa Altwaijry⁴, Samia Q Alghamdi⁵, Abdullah D Alanazi^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt.
³ Department of Information Technology, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Computer Science, College of Computer and Information Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha 1988, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Science and Humanities, Shaqra University, Ad-Dawadimi 11911, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Medical Laboratory, Alghad International Colleges for Applied Medical Science, Tabuk 47913, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

We analyzed the blood from 400 one-humped camels, Camelus dromedarius (C. dromedarius), in Riyadh and Al-Qassim, Saudi Arabia to determine if they were infected with the parasite Trypanosoma spp. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) gene was used to detect the prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. in the camels. Trypanosoma evansi (T. evansi) was detected in 79 of 200 camels in Riyadh, an infection rate of 39.5%, and in 92 of 200 camels in Al-Qassim, an infection rate of 46%. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the isolated T. evansi was closely related to the T. evansi that was detected in C. dromedarius in Egypt and the T. evansi strain B15.1 18S ribosomal RNA gene identified from buffalo in Thailand. A BLAST search revealed that the sequences are also similar to those of T. evansi from beef cattle in Thailand and to T. brucei B8/18 18S ribosomal RNA from pigs in Nigeria.

Keywords: ITS-1; Saudi Arabia; Surra; Trypanosoma spp.; camel; polymerase chain reaction (PCR); thin blood smear.

Grants and funding

: This research project was supported by a grant from the Research Center of the Female Scientific and Medical Colleges, the Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University../: This research project was supported by a grant from the Research Center of the Female Scientific and Medical Colleges, the Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University..