Dados do Trabalho

Título

Detection of Hepatozoon spp. in Bothrops moojeni and Crotalus durissus from Brazilian Central-West

Introdução

The genus Hepatozoon is the most abundant of the hemogregarines group, parasitizing different classes of vertebrates. Furthermore, it is the most common representative of the phylum Apicomplexa in snakes (even in those kept in captivity).

Objetivo (s)

The aim of the study was to investigate the presence of Hepatozoon spp. in two Viperidae species, Bothrops moojeni and Crotalus durissus, kept in captivity at the Bioterium of Dom Bosco Catholic University (Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil).

Material e Métodos

We sampled blood of 33 B. moojeni and 71 C. durissus. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the 18S rDNA gene was performed with DNA extracted from clots samples with specific primers (HEP300 and HEP900) for Hepatozoon. We found 49/71 and 15/33 positivity for C. durissus and B. moojeni, respectively. Among six samples selected for sanger sequencing according to the quality of the band on electrophoresis, only one sequence from a C. durissus was identified through GenBank as Hepatozoon cevapii.

Resultados e Conclusão

This is the first record of H. cevapii in C. durissus in the Brazilian central west, since it was described in C. durissus in Botucatu, São Paulo and later reported in Thamnodynastes lanei in Macapá, Amapá. Consequently, our results expand the knowledge of the geographic distribution of such a diverse protozoan group. This work is still in progress; the next step is to solve the issues on the sequencing for species-level classification of the other positive samples.

Palavras-chave

protozoan, Viperidae, snakes

Agradecimentos

CAPES, CNPq, UCDB