INVESTIGADORES
KOWALEWSKI Miguel Martin
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Molecular characterization of infection by Trypanosoma sp. in wild black and gold howler monkeys from northeastern Argentina
Autor/es:
MARTINEZ, MARIELA; KOWALEWSKI, M MARTIN; SALOMON, DANIEL; SCHIJMAN, AG
Lugar:
Mar del Plata
Reunión:
Congreso; X Congreso de Protozoología y Enfermedades Parasitarias (SAP); 2014
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de Protozoología
Resumen:
Natural populations of Trypanosoma cruzi have been classified in six discrete typing units (DTUs) associated to different environments, vectors and mammalian hosts. Our goal was to identify the different lineages of T. cruzi and other trypanosomes that infect howler monkeys in northeastern Argentina using molecular techniques. The study was conducted in Isla Brasilera (IB), a small island in the Paraná River with almost no human contact, and in the surroundings of the rural locality San Cayetano (SC). A total of 108 animals (51 in IB and 57 in SC) were captured using anesthetic darts. The animals were bleed by venipuncture and each blood sample was diluted in EDTA 0,5M. PCR-amplification of three different DNA target regions were used for diagnosis: kinetoplastid DNA (kDNA-PCR), satellite DNA (SatDNA-PCR), and D7 domain 24Sa rRNA genes (rDNA-PCR). The kDNA-PCR detected 45% positive samples from IB and 48.3% from SC. Using SatDNA-PCR in positive kDNA samples we detected infections by T. cruzi in three howlers from IB and five from SC. The SatDNA sequences obtained in one howler from IB and three from SC shared 99% identity with those previously reported in the DTUs II, V, and VI, which are associated to the domestic transmission cycle of T. cruzi. In contrast, a different SatDNA sequence in other howler from IB showed high similarity (99%) to those reported in the DTU I, which are more related to wild transmission cycle in Didelphis sp. The rDNA-PCR detected 98% positive samples from IB and 94.8% from SC. Nine rDNA sequences (4 from IB and 5 from SC) shared 98% identity with the homologous gene in T. minasense. This study provides the first report of infection by T. cruzi and T. minasense in wild howler monkeys in Argentina. Our results suggest that A. caraya could be acting as a potential reservoir in the wild transmission cycle of the Chagas disease in the study areas.