Kedra Aleksander H. (1), Swiderski Zdzislaw (1), Tkach Vasyl V. (2),
Dubinsky Pavol (3), Pawlowski Zbigniew (4), Stefaniak Jerzy (5),
Pawlowski Jan (6) (7)
- Genetic analysis of Echinococcus granulosus from humans and pigs in Poland, Slovakia
and Ukraine. A multicenter study.
(1) W. Stefanski Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818
Warszawa, Poland (kedra@twarda.pan.pl); (2) Institute of Zoology, Ukrainian
Academy of Sciences, 15 Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street, Kiev, 252601 Ukraine; (3) Parasitological
Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Hlinkova 3, 040 01 Kosice, Slovak
Republic; (4)
University of Medical Sciences, Dabrowskiego 79, 60-529 Poznan, Poland; (5) Clinic of Parasitic
and Tropical Diseases, University of Medical Sciences, Przybyszewskiego 49, 60-355 Poznan,
Poland; (6) Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of
Geneva, 154 Route de
Malagnou, CH-1224, Chene-Bougeries; (7) Museum of Natural History, 1211 Geneva 4,
Switzerland
ABSTRACT
Mitochondrial ND1 gene sequences were obtained from 56 isolates of E. granulosus
from pigs collected in Central and East Europe (Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine) and from 5 isolates
of E. granulosus from humans collected in Poland. No differences have been found
between isolates from all pigs and between those from pigs and humans; all sequences were
identical or very similar to the published sequence of the G7 strain. Additionally, 21 clones of the
ITS1 rDNA obtained from 5 isolates of E. granulosus collected from
pigs in 3 countries and 1
human isolate from Poland, were sequenced. Our data do not confirm the existence of specific G9
strain of E. granulosus in humans (Scott et al. 1997). Moreover, high sequence divergence
found between and within the isolates indicates a strong polymorphism of ITS rDNA copies
making use of this gene for identification of E. granulosus strains and reconstruction of
their phylogenetic relationships questionable.
KEY WORDS: Echinococcus granulosus, pigs, humans, molecular strain differentiation,
ND1, ITS1, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine
Page compiled by Aleksander H.Kedra. Last modification:
15-12-1999