Genotyping of Toxoplasma gondii from Stray Cats by Multilocus PCR-RFLP Techniques in Erbil city -Kurdistan Region/Iraq

Abstract

In this study, ten multilocus PCR-RFLP markers were used for genotyping of T. gondii in six cats; that were seropositive by MAT test. These markers include SAG1, SAG2 (5-SAG2, 3-SAG2 and Alt.SAG2), SAG3, BTUB, GRA6, c22-8, c29-2, L358, PK1 and Apico. Eight T. gondii reference strains (GT1, PTG, CTG, TgCgCa1, MAS, TgCatBr5, TgCatBr64 and TgToucan) were used as positive controls for genotyping. Sample A20-1 was type III by one marker (GRA6), while sample A9-2 was type III by four markers (SAG3, BTUB, c22-8 and c29-2) and sample A20-2 was type III by four markers (SAG1, SAG3, BTUB and c29-2). Hence, it could be concluded that the strain of T. gondii in Kurdistan stray cats is likely the type III.