Analysis of nucleotide variation within the triose-phosphate isomerase gene of Giardia duodenalis from sheep and its zoonotic implications

Abstract

This study explored the genetic composition of Giardia in fecal samples from 284 individual lambs on pasture-based sheep farms in three regions of Victoria, Australia. An approach, combining targeted sequencing, phylogenetic analysis and PCR-coupled restriction endonuclease fingerprinting, was used to identify and genetically categorize Giardia present in 43 (15.1%) of the 284 samples and to infer their zoonotic potential. The specific identity and genetic classification were based on the phylogenetic analysis of sequence data for a portion of the triose-phosphate isomerase gene. Fourteen different sequence variants (including seven sequences that contained between one and five polymorphic s..