Molecular characterization of Egyptian human and animal echinococcus granulosus isolates by Rapd-PCR technique

ABSTRACT

Five primers of known, but arbitrary nucleotide sequence [OPH-03, OPH-05, OPH-12, OPH-15 and OPH-18] were used to detect the genetic variability in the Egyptian human, camel and pig E. Granulosus isolates. OPH-03, OPH-05 and OPH-15 proved to be useful genetic markers of strain variation; while, OPH-12 and OPH-18 allowed the distinction at the genus level, i.e. diversified from Cysticercus tenuicollis. OPH-03 was the most effective, giving sharp distinct banding pattern and the least values of similarity coefficients. Some variations were detected within E. granulosus isolates from the same host. The level of heterogeneity was low in three of the human isolates, camel and pig strains. An individual variation was detectable within other three human isolates. Human and camel isolates were the most related pair, having similar patterns and the highest similarity coefficients. The study implied that human cases in Egypt are of the camel/dog strain and camels are important hosts for the transmission of human hydatidosis