AUTHOR=Chourabi Marwa , Boughattas Sonia , Abdallah Atiyeh M. , Ismail Ahmed , Behnke Jerzy M. , Al-Mekhlafi Hesham M. , Abu-Madi Marawan 

TITLE=Genetic Diversity and Prevalence of Giardia duodenalis in Qatar

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.652946

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2021.652946

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p><italic>Giardia duodenalis</italic> is a common human intestinal parasite worldwide, and the causative agent of diarrhea, with the severity of disease ranging from asymptomatic to intense and debilitating infection. <italic>G. duodenalis</italic> is known to consist of eight genetically distinct assemblages, named from A to H. No data available on the genotypes and genetic diversity of <italic>G. duodenalis</italic> circulating in Qatar.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We genotyped 54 human <italic>Giardia</italic> isolates, collected from asymptomatic immigrants in Qatar, using a multilocus genotyping (MLGs) tool. We also investigated relationships between the subjects’ genotypes and their demographic data.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Genomic DNA from 54 isolates were tested by PCR and sequence analysis at three loci: <italic>glutamate dehydrogenase</italic> (<italic>gdh</italic>), <italic>β-giardin</italic> (<italic>bg</italic>) and <italic>triose phosphate</italic> (<italic>tpi</italic>)). Assemblage A was identified in nine (16.67%), assemblage B in thirty (55.55%), and a mixture of assemblages A+B in fifteen (27.78%) isolates. All assemblage A isolates, genotyped in different loci, were assigned to sub-assemblage AII, and six of them had MLGs AII-1 while one new MLG was identified in two isolates. Sequences of assemblage B isolates have high level of genetic diversity and high presence of heterogeneous peaks, especially within the <italic>gdh</italic> gene. No significant associations between genotypes and the immigrants’ demographic data were found due to the extensive number of new variants.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>MLGs was used herein to genotype 54 immigrant <italic>Giardia</italic> isolates. The high level of genetic variability found in our isolates hampered MLGs determination, more investigations are now required to consolidate our findings, and to enable a comprehensive understanding of the diversity within <italic>G. duodenalis</italic> assemblage B isolates.</p></sec>