U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Research Publications at this Location





- ARS National Programs
- Search for a scientific manuscript
- Search for a research project
- ARS Software
- Programs and Projects
- Collaborations
- Subjects of Investigation
- Publications

Title:   Author  item
                                            SU, C - U TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLEitem
                                            ZHANG, X - U TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLEitem
                                            Dubey, Jitender
  Submitted to: International Journal for Parasitology
                                    Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
                                    Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2006
                                    Publication  Date: 6/6/2006
                                    Citation: Su, C., Zhang, X., Dubey, J.P. 2006. Genotyping of toxoplasma gondii by multifocus PCR-RFLP markers:  a high resolution and simple method for identification of parasites. International Journal for Parasitology. 36:841-848.Interpretive Summary: Toxoplasma gondii is a single-celled parasite of all warm-blooded hosts worldwide. It causes mental retardation and loss of vision in children, and abortion in livestock. Cats are the main reservoir of T. gondii because they are the only hosts that can excrete the resistant stage (oocyst) of the parasite in the feces. Humans become infected by eating undercooked meat from infected animals and food and water contaminated with oocysts.Scientists at the USDA  Agricultural Research Service and a University of Tennessee , Knoxville  new genetic markers for Toxoplasma..

The results will be of interest to biologists, parasitologists, and

veterinarians.
                                Technical Abstract: It was generally believed that Toxoplasma gondii had a clonal population structure with three predominant lineages namely type I, II and III. This was largely based on genotyping of more than a hundred T. gondii isolates originated from a variety of human and animal sources in north America and Europe.  Recent genotyping studies on T. gondii strains from wild animals or human patients from different geographical regions revealed the high frequency of non-archetypal genotypes, suggesting the overall diversity of T. gondii population might be much higher than we thought. However, as most genotyping studies had relied on a few biallelic markers, the resolution and discriminative power of identifying parasite isolates were quite low. To date, there is no commonly used set of markers to genotype T.gondii strains, and it is not feasible to compare results from different laboratories. Here, we developed nine PCR-RFLP markers with each of them capable of distinguishing the three archetypal T. gondii lineages in one restriction-enzyme reaction by agarose gel electrophoresis. Genotyping 46 T. gondii isolates from different sources using these markers showed that they could readily distinguish the archetypal from atypical types and to reveal genetic diversity of the parasites. In addition, mixed strains in samples could be easily detected by these markers.  Use of these markers will facilitate the identification of T. gondii isolates in epidemiological and population genetic studies.


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov