DNA fingerprinting of bovine Cryptosporidium isolates in Qazvin province, Iran

  Introduction: Cryptosporidium is an Apicomplexa parasite that infects humans and a wide range of domestic and wild animals. However, the sub-genotypes of the species infecting animals in Iran are unclear. The aim of the present study isto identify DNA fingerprinting of bovine Cryptosporidium in Qazvin province using sequences of GP60 gene.   Materials and Methods : In this study we investigated 25 C. parvum isolated form bovine in Qazvin animal husbandries. Subgenotypes were determined by DNA sequencing of 60-kDa glycoprotein gene.   Results: Using DNA sequencing of GP60 gene, two subtype families within the C. parvum included IId (15/22) and IIa (7/22) were recognized. Also three subtypes in these two subtype families included IIa A15G2R1 (22/25), IIa A16G3R (1/25), IId A15G1 (2/25) were determined.   Conclusion: Today, new zoonose strains are identified which based on severity of infection compared with human strains are more sever and the source and transmission of their infection are unclear. Therefore, determination of C .parvum strains, genotypes and sub-genotypes for epidemiological studies are quite necessary specially to identify the animal sources and to improve the control and prevention programs due to the lake of effective drugs for this infection.