Molecular Detection to Toxoplasma gondii in Serum Sheep Samples

Abstract

Toxoplasma  gondii an obligate intracellular protozoan is one of the most common parasites that infect warm blooded animals including man. Polymerase chain reaction was applied for the detection DNA of the pathogenic protozoan T. gondii based on 35-fold-repetitive gene (the B1 gene) as a target. Blood samples from (66) sheep were taken to extracted serum from it, the result indicated that (51) serum were positive by enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay (ELIZA) and (15) serum apparently healthy as control group, same serum samples were taken to extract DNA from it and to detect the B1 gene if present. The B1 gene was present and conserved in all T.  gondii strains and to detect this gene from purified DNA samples, a two-stage of PCR (nested) was conducted employing oligonucleotide specific primers for detected this gene. Results indict that (39) sheep are infected with the parasite. This combination of specificity which detected of the B1 gene based on PCR which is regarded a very useful method for diagnosis of toxoplasmosis in sheep.