Population genetic structure of Theileria parva field isolates from indigenous cattle populations of Uganda
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases
Abstract
Theileria parva causes East Coast Fever (ECF) a protozoan infection which manifests as a non-symptomatic
syndrome among endemically stable indigenous cattle populations. Knowledge of the current genetic
diversity and population structure of T. parva is critical for predicting pathogen evolutionary trends to
inform development of effective control strategies. In this study the population genetic structure of 78
field isolates of T. parva from indigenous cattle (Ankole, n = 41 and East African shorthorn Zebu (EASZ),
n = 37) sampled from the different agro ecological zones (AEZs) of Uganda was investigated. A total of eight
mini- and micro-satellite markers encompassing the four chromosomes of T. parva were used to genotype
the study field isolates. The genetic diversity of the surveyed T. parva populations was observed to range
from 0.643
±
0.55 to 0.663
±
0.41 among the Central and Western AEZs respectively. The overall Wright’s
F index showed significant genetic variation between the surveyed T. parva populations based on the
different AEZs and indigenous cattle breeds (FST = 0.133, p < 0.01) and (FST = 0.101, p < 0.01) respectively.
Significant pairwise population genetic differentiations (p < 0.05) were observed with FST values ranging
from 0.048 to 0.173 between the eastern and northern, eastern and western populations respectively. The
principal component analysis (PCA) showed a high level of genetic and geographic sub-structuring among
populations. Linkage disequilibrium was observed when populations from all the study AEZs were treated
as a single population and when analysed separately. On the overall, the significant genetic diversity and
geographic sub-structuring exhibited among the study T. parva isolates has critical implications for ECF
control.
Description
Keywords
Agro-ecological zones, Indigenous cattle populations, Infection and treatment method, Population genetic diversity, Theileria parva isolates Uganda
Citation
Muwanika, V., Kabi, F., & Masembe, C. (2016). Population genetic structure of Theileria parva field isolates from indigenous cattle populations of Uganda. Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, 7(2), 291-297.