AUTHOR=Srionrod Nitipon , Nooroong Pornpiroon , Poolsawat Napassorn , Minsakorn Sutthida , Watthanadirek Amaya , Junsiri Witchuta , Sangchuai Siriphan , Chawengkirttikul Runglawan , Anuracpreeda Panat 

TITLE=Molecular characterization and genetic diversity of Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina of cattle in Thailand

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.1065963

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2022.1065963

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Babesia bovis</italic> and <italic>B. bigemina</italic> are the most common tick-borne parasites that cause bovine babesiosis which effects livestock production, leading to economic losses in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. The aims of this study were to determine the molecular detection, genetic diversity and antigenicity prediction of <italic>B. bovis</italic> based on spherical body protein 2 (<italic>sbp-2</italic>) gene and <italic>B. bigemina</italic> based on rhoptry-associated protein 1a (<italic>rap-1a</italic>) gene in cattle in Thailand. By PCR assay, the molecular detection of <italic>B. bovis</italic> and <italic>B. bigemina</italic> infection revealed levels of 2.58% (4/155) and 5.80% (9/155), respectively. The phylograms showed that <italic>B. bovis sbp-2</italic> and <italic>B. bigemina rap-1a</italic> sequences displayed 5 and 3 clades with similarity ranging between 85.53 to 100% and 98.28 to 100%, respectively, when compared within Thailand strain. Diversity analysis of <italic>sbp-2</italic> and <italic>rap-1a</italic> sequences showed 18 and 4 haplotypes, respectively. The entropy analysis illustrated 104 and 7 polymorphic sites of <italic>sbp-2</italic> and <italic>rap-1a</italic> nucleic acid sequences, respectively, while those of <italic>sbp-2</italic> and <italic>rap-1a</italic> amino acid sequences showed 46 and 4 high entropy peaks, respectively. Motifs analysis exhibited the distribution and conservation among <italic>sbp-2</italic> and <italic>rap-1a</italic> sequences. The continuous and discontinuous B-cell epitopes have also been evaluated in this work. Therefore, our findings may be used to ameliorate the understanding inputs of molecular phylogeny, genetic diversity and antigenicity of <italic>B. bovis</italic> and <italic>B. bigemina</italic> Thailand stains.</p>