The First Survey of Isolation and Molecular Typing of Toxoplasma gondii by Bioassay and PCR Method in BALB/c Mice in Camels (Camelus dromedarius) from Eastern Iran

Background:This study was designed to isolation of Toxoplasma gondii from camels by bioassay method in mice model and detect parasitic DNA in brain mice by molecular methods. Methods:A total of 100 tissue samples including heart(n=50),and diaphragm(n=50) were obtained from camels(n=50) slaughtered in abattoirs from three provinces located in eastern Iran.Bioassay method was done in positive MAT camels and Nested PCR performed in tissue samples to amplify the B1 and GRA6 genes. The existence of polymorphic restriction sites for endonuclease MseI was used with PCR-RFLP method and Sequencing analysis to evaluate the prevalence of type strains (I, II and III) Results: Totally,13(26 %) tissue samples of camels were found positive for the T. gondii B1 gene, including 7(14%) diaphragm,6(12%) heart. Moreover,3(6%) tissue samples of camels were found positive with GRA6 gene for T. gondii. There are three genotypes and mix genotype using MseI enzyme among all positive samples. Conclusion: The obtained results for the first time demonstrated the presence of T. gondii DNA in the tissues of camels from east of Iran. Since consumption of meat camels are raising in Iran, there may be a high risk of contamination through consumption of products from these hosts due to their susceptibility to the infection