Morphological, ultrastructural, genetic characteristics and remarkably low prevalence of macroscopic Sarcocystis species isolated from sheep and goats in Kurdistan region, Iraq

Salh Nawshirwan; Nicole Heucken; Nadin Piekarek; Tim van Beers; Nicole Fulgham-Scott; Andrea Grandoch; Wolfram F Neiss; Johannes Vogt; Mohammed Barham

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1225796

Morphological, ultrastructural, genetic characteristics and remarkably low prevalence of macroscopic Sarcocystis species isolated from sheep and goats in Kurdistan region, Iraq

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Sep 28:10:1225796. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1225796. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Salh Nawshirwan¹, Nicole Heucken², Nadin Piekarek³, Tim van Beers⁴, Nicole Fulgham-Scott³, Andrea Grandoch⁵, Wolfram F Neiss⁴, Johannes Vogt^{2

6}, Mohammed Barham²

Affiliations

¹ Directorate of Veterinary Medicine, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
² Department II of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
³ Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁴ Department I of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁵ Department for Oral and Craniomaxillofacial and Plastic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne and University Hospital of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
⁶ Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research (CECAD) and Center of Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.

Abstract

Introduction: Sarcocystis is a genus of cyst-forming parasites that infest both humans and livestock. Some parasites cause clinical and subclinical diseases in their hosts, resulting in economic losses.

Methods: Esophagus, diaphragm, and skeletal muscle from slaughtered sheep and goats were examined macroscopically, microscopically, and ultrastructurally and subjected to DNA analysis.

Results: We isolated macrocysts of S. gigantea and of S. caprafelis moulei from naturally infected sheep (Ovis aries) and goats (Capra hircus). The macrocyst wall thickness was 18.9 µm in sheep and 15.3 µm in goats, and consisted of an inner Periodic acid Schiff- (PAS) negative primary wall and an outer glycoconjugates containing i.e. PAS-positive secondary wall. The walls inner surface was compartmentalized and filled with bradyzoites. In S. gigantea the bradyzoites were approximently 12.3 x 2.6 µm in size, while in S. caprafelis moulei they were 13.9 x 4.4 µm. Ultrastructurally, both species have nearly identical morphology: cauliflower-like protrusions with numerous microtubules and often dendritic-like filaments, branching from the primary wall. The 18S rRNA gene in S. gigantea was 85.9% identical to that in S. medusiformis and 80.4% to the S. caprafelis moulei gene. The 28S rRNA gene in S. gigantea was 94.6% identical to that in S. medusiformis and 97.3% to the S. caprafelis moulei.

Conclusion: This study is the first to (i) detail the ultrastructure of the macrocyst wall of S. caprafelis moulei, (ii) identify S. medusiformis in Iraqi sheep, and (iii) compare the prevalence of macroscopic Sarcocystis at different time periods within the same region. A positive finding was the reduction of macroscopic sarcocystosis occurrences (0.01% in sheep and 0.02% in goats) compared to our previous data from 1992 (4.1%: sheep, 33.6%: goats).

Keywords: Sarcocystis gigantea; Sarcocystis medusiformis; Sarcocystis moulei; genetic analysis; goat; sheep.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the CRC 1451 to JV and MB and Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research (CECAD), University of Cologne, 50931, Cologne, Germany. We acknowledge support for the Article Processing Charge from the DFG (German Research Foundation, 491454339). This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.