Detección molecular y análisis filogenéticos de Trypanosoma vivax en equinos y caninos naturalmente infectados, en parroquias de la provincia de Pichincha y Sucumbíos, Ecuador

Abstract

Trypanosoma vivax is a parasite that belongs to the family Trypanosomatidae, and causes trypanosomosis, this disease has a wide distribution in areas such as: Africa, Asia and Latin America. It mainly affects cattle and horses among others. The infected animal can present the disease with several signs and symptoms, mainly weight loss, anemia, decrease in production and death, being the cause of economic losses. There are few studies of T. vivax in Ecuador, but none in the provinces of Pichincha and Sucumbíos using molecular techniques. Therefore, the objective of the present work was to detect molecularly and perform an analysis of phylogenetic relationships of Trypanosoma vivax in naturally infected equines and canines from parishes in the provinces of Pichincha and Sucumbíos, Ecuador. Thirty-three DNA samples from equines and canines from Pedro Vicente Maldonado and Aguas Negras were studied. Two (prevalence of 6,06%) were positive for T. vivax using an end-point PCR, amplifying a fragment of the ITS-1 region confirmed with the species-specific antigen T. vivax (ILO) and cysteine cathepsin L-like cysteine. Phylogenetic inference was performed using a Maxima Parsimony tree, when using the ITS1 region, similarity was observed with isolates from South America and East Africa, while with the CAT-L-like region, the similarity was with Ecuadorian isolates from the study conducted from Manabí in 2017. This is the first study of the presence of T. vivax in 2 provinces of Ecuador, Pichincha and Sucumbíos, employing molecular tools.