Molecular characterization of Babesia bovis strains using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the msa2-a/b genes

WILKOWSKY, S.; FARBER, M.; GIL, G.; ECHAIDE, I.; MOSQUEDA, J.; ALCARAZ, E.; SUAREZ, C.; JACOBSEN FLORIN-CHRISTENSEN, M.

ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

BLACKWELL PUBLISHING

Año: 2008 vol. 1149 p. 9 - 18

0077-8923

The merozoite surface antigen-2 (msa-2) family of Babesia bovis is a group of variable genes that share conserved 5´and 3´ ends and encode for membrane-anchored glycoproteins that have been postulated as vaccine candidates. In this work, we analyzed the sequences of three of these genes (msa-2a1, a2 and 2b) from two geographically distant strains from Mexico and Argentina and detected a certain degree of genotypic diversity that could be exploited to work out new molecular tools for the discrimination of B. bovis field samples. Here, we describe a PCR restriction assay (PRA) that was developed based on this observation and tested on several B. bovis strains and isolates. The results show a strain-specific band pattern in geographically distant isolates, indicating the presence of differentially located BspMI restriction sites. This approach provides a simple method for the differentiation of American B. bovis strains.