Molecular Identification ofAncylostoma caninumIsolated from Cats in Southern China Based on Complete ITS Sequence

Abstract

Ancylostoma caninumis a blood-feeding parasitic intestinal nematode which infects dogs, cats, and other mammals throughout the world. A highly sensitive and species-specific PCR-RFLP technique was utilised to detect the prevalence ofA. caninumin cats in Guangzhou, southern China. Of the 102 fecal samples examined, the prevalence ofA. caninumin cats was 95.1% and 83.3% using PCR-RFLP and microscopy, respectively. Among them, the prevalence of single hookworm infection withA. caninumwas 54.90%, while mixed infections with bothA. caninumandA. ceylanicumwere 40.20%. Comparative analysis of three complete ITS sequences obtained from cat-derivedA. caninumshowed the same length (738 bp) as that of dog-derivedA. caninum. However, the sequence variation range was 98.6%–100%, where only one cat isolate (M63) showed 100% sequence similarity in comparison with two dog-derivedA. caninumisolates (AM850106, EU159416) in the same studied area. The phylogenetic tree revealedA. caninumderived from both cats and dogs in single cluster. Results suggest that cats could be the main host ofA. caninumin China, which may cause cross-infection between dogs and cats in the same area.