Presentación del Grupo Parásitos Patológicos

FLORIN-CHRISTENSEN M, SCHNITTGER L

Mar del Plata

Jornada; Jornadas de la Asociación Argentina de Parasitología Veterinaria y XIX Encuentro Rioplatense de Veterinarios Endoparasitólogos; 2010

ABSTRACT: The Laboratory of Pathogenic Protozoa at the Institute of Pathobiology, INTA-Castelar, Argentina, aims at generating knowledge on the pathogenicity mechanisms of parasitic protozoons that affect productive or economically important animals; the development of improved control strategies for these organisms, such as vaccines and diagnostic methods; and the study of their genetic variations and population structure. Most of the group research efforts have been devoted to the tick-transmitted bovine parasite Babesia bovis that inflicts great economic losses in warm cattle raising areas of the world. Recent research achievements connected to this parasite include (i) the identification of neutralization sensitive B-cell epitopes in surface antigens of this parasite that could be included in a subunit vaccine; (ii) the chemical characterization of the main glycolipid present in the parasite membranes and studies on its biological significance; (iii) the development of a molecular marker system based on micro and minisatellites for the genotypification of geographical isolates; (iv) the in silico identification of the whole repertoire of protease-encoding genes in the parasite genome, as well as the characterization of one of these proteases, the cystein peptidase Bovipain-2; (iv) the development of a competitive ELISA test for the serological diagnosis of bovine babesiosis; and (v) the identification of the water buffalo as parasite carrier. Current efforts, apart from reinforcing the previous lines, are applied to the identification of histone-mediated epigenetic mechanisms regulating gene expression in this organism. Some of the information gathered by the research carried out on B. boviswill be applied to investigate B. ovis, a closely related tick-transmitted parasite of sheep, on whichknowledge is scarce and that needs the development of vaccine strategies for its control. Theileriaequi is another tick-transmitted protozoon of economic importance and diagnosis of infections by this parasite is a prerequisite for horse export into equine piroplasmosis-free countries. An indirect ELISA developed by the group resulted adequate and cheaper than the available imported tests and proved useful to start collecting information on the prevalence of this disease in Argentina. Another research line recently incorporated deals with Sarcocystis aucheniae, an apicomplexan protozoon that produces macrocysts in the muscle of South American camellids, preventing the commercialization of their meat. The group efforts are currently concentrated on developing methods for the diagnosis of the infection in living llamas of the province of Jujuy, Argentina. The group of Pathogenic Protozoa is composed of researchers and fellows from the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET) and the Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), as well as graduate students from the University of Buenos Aires, and undergraduate students from the University of Moron.