Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T12:47:23.416Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strain differentiation of Onchocerca volvulus from Uganda using DNA probes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

P. Fischer ,
J. Bamuhiiga ,
A. H. D. Kilian  and
D. W. Büttner
P. Fischer
Affiliation:
Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Bernhard-Nocht-Strasse 74, 20359 Hamburg, Germany
J. Bamuhiiga
Affiliation:
GTZ and Ministry of Health, Basic Health Services, P.O. Box 27, Fort Portal, Uganda
A. H. D. Kilian
Affiliation:
GTZ and Ministry of Health, Basic Health Services, P.O. Box 27, Fort Portal, Uganda
D. W. Büttner
Affiliation:
Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Bernhard-Nocht-Strasse 74, 20359 Hamburg, Germany
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) combined with non-radioactive DNA hybridization was applied for the detection and characterization of a 150 bp tandem repeat of Onchocerca volvulus. DNA of worms from western Uganda was amplified and then probed with a digoxygenin-labelled oligonucleotide, specific for the forest form of O. volvulus and compared to samples from various African countries. Hybridization was only observed with PCR products from the forest in Liberia, south-eastern Ghana, Benin and southern Cameroon, but not with worms from Uganda or the savannah in Burkina Faso and northern Ghana. A nested PCR using primers derived form the forest form-specific DNA sequence confirmed these results. Morphometric studies revealed length differences between the microfilariae of Ugandan O. volvulus to those of West Africa, especially to those of the savannah in Burkina Faso. It is concluded that the forest/savannah classification of O. volvulus from West Africa is not suitable for Simulium weasel-transmitted O. volvulus from Uganda.

Keywords

Onchocerca volvuluspolymerase chain reactionSouthern blotforest strain-specific DNA probemicrofilarial length
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 112 , Issue 4 , April 1996 , pp. 401 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albiez, E. J., Ganley, J. P. & Büttner, D. W. (1981). Ocular onchocerciasis in a hyperendemic village in the rain forest of Liberia. Tropemnedizin und Parasitologie 32, 25–8.Google Scholar
Anderson, J., Fuglsang, H., Hamilton, P. J. S. & Marshall, C. De T. F. (1974). Studies on onchocerciasis in the United Cameroon Republic. II. Comparison of onchocerciasis in rain-forest and sudan-savanna. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 68, 209–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botto, C., Escalante, A., Arango, M. & Yarzabal, L. (1988). Morphological differences between Venezuelan and African microfilariae of Onchocerca volvulus. Journal of Helminthology 62, 345–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Britten, R. J. (1986). Rates of DNA sequence evolution differ between taxonomic groups. Science 231, 1393–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheke, R. A., Garms, R., Ouedraogo, J., Some, A. & Sowah, S. (1987). The Beffa form of Simulium soubrense of the S. damnosum complex in Togo and Benin. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 1, 29–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheke, R. A., Avissey, H. S. K., Sowah, S. A., Walsh, J. F. & Garms, R. (1992). The vectorial efficiency of Simulium yahense population in south-eastern Ghana. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 43, 62–4.Google ScholarPubMed
Cianchi, R., Karam, M., Henry, M. C., Villani, F., Kumlien, S. & Bullini, L. (1985). Preliminary data on the genetic differentiation of Onchocerca volvulus in Africa. Ada Tropica 42, 341–51.Google ScholarPubMed
Dadzie, K. Y., Remme, J., Rolland, A. & Thylefors, B. (1989). Ocular onchocerciasis and intensity of infection in the community. II. West African rainforest foci of the vector Simulium yahense. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 40, 348–54.Google ScholarPubMed
Dadzie, K. Y., Remme, J., Baker, R. H. A., Rolland, A. & Thylefors, B. (1990). Ocular onchocerciasis and intensity of infection in the community. III. West African rainforest foci of the vector Simulium sanctipauli. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 41, 376–82.Google ScholarPubMed
Dean, A. G., Dean, J. A., Burton, A. H. & Dicker, R. C. (1990). Epi Info, Version 5.0: a word processing, data base, and statistics program for epidemiology on microcomputers. USD, Incorporated, Stone Mountain, Georgia.Google Scholar
Duke, B. O. L. & Anderson, J. (1972). A comparison of the lesions produced in the cornea of the rabbit eye by microfilariae of the forest and the Sudan-savanna strains of Onchocerca volvulus from Cameroon. Zeitschrift für Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie 23, 354–68.Google ScholarPubMed
Duke, B. O. L., Lewis, D. J. & Moore, P. J. (1966). Onchocerca-Simulium complexes-I. Transmission of forest and Sudan-savanna strains of Onchocerca volvulus, from Cameroon, by Simulium damnosum from various West African bioclimatic zones. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 60, 318–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eichner, M. & Renz, A. (1990). Differential length of Onchocerca volvulus infective larvae from the Cameroon rain forest and savanna. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 41, 29–32.Google ScholarPubMed
Erttmann, K. D., Unnasch, T. R., Greene, B. M., Albiez, E. J., Boateng, J., Denke, A. M., Ferraroni, J. J., Karam, M., Schulz-Key, H. & Williams, P. N. (1987). A DNA sequence specific for forest form Onchocerca volvulus. Nature, London 327, 415–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erttmann, K. D., Meredith, S. E. O., Greene, B. M. & Unnasch, T. R. (1990). Isolation and characterization of form specific DNA sequences of O. volvulus. Acta Leidensia 59, 253–60.Google ScholarPubMed
Fischer, P., Kipp, W., Bamuhiga, J., Binta-Kahwa, J., Kiefer, A. & Büttner, D. W. (1993). Parasitological and clinical characterization of Simulium neavei-transmitted onchocerciasis in western Uganda. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 44, 311–21.Google ScholarPubMed
Flockhart, H. A., Cibulskis, R. E., Karam, M. & Albiez, E. J. (1986). Onchocerca volvulus: enzyme polymorphism in relation to the differentiation of forest and savannah strains of this parasite. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 80, 285–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garms, R. (1987). Infection rates and parasitic loads of Onchocerca volvulus, and other filariae, in Simulium sanctipauli s.l. and S. yahense in a rain-forest area of Liberia. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 38, 201–4.Google Scholar
Gill, L. L., Hardman, N., Chappell, L., Hu Qu, L., Nicoloso, M., Bachellerie, J.-P. (1988). Phylogeny of Onchocerca volvulus and related species deduced from rRNA sequence comparisons. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 28, 69–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harnett, W., Chambers, A. E., Renz, A. & Parkhouse, R. M. E. (1989). An oligonucleotide probe specific for Onchocerca volvulus. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 35, 119–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kron, M. A. & Hag Ali, M. (1993). Characterization of a variant tandem repeat from Sudanese Onchocerca volvulus. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 44, 113–15.Google ScholarPubMed
Lobos, E. & Weiss, N. (1985). Immunochemical comparison between worm extracts of Onchocerca volvulus from savanna and rain forest. Parasite Immunity 7, 137–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Lucius, R., Prod'hon, J., Kern, A., Hébrard, G. & Diesfeld, H. J. (1987). Antibody responses in forest and savanna onchocerciasis in Ivory Coast. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 38, 194–200.Google ScholarPubMed
Meredith, S. E. O., Unnasch, T. R., Karam, M., Piessens, W. F. & Wirth, D. F. (1989). Cloning and characterization of an Onchocerca volvulus specific DNA sequence. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 36, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meredith, S. E. O., Lando, G., Gbakima, A. A., Zimmerman, P. A. & Unnasch, T. R. (1991). Onchocerca volvulus: application of the polymerase chain reaction to identification and strain differentiation of the parasite. Experimental Parasitology 73, 335–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, G. S. & Pester, F. R. N. (1962). The identification of infective filarial larvae in Simuliidae. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 27, 473–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Omar, M. s. (1978). Histochemical enzyme-staining patterns of Onchocerca volvulus microfilariae and their occurence in different onchocerciasis areas. Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie 29, 462–72.Google Scholar
Remme, J., Dadzie, K. Y., Rolland, A. & Thylefors, B. (1989). Ocular onchocerciasis and intensity of infection in the community. I. West African savanna. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 40, 340–7.Google ScholarPubMed
Schiller, E., Turner, V. M., Figueroa, M. H. & D'antonio, R. (1979). The cryopreservation and in vitro cultivation of larval Onchocerca volvulus. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 28, 997–1009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulz-Key, H., Albiez, E. J. & Büttner, D. W. (1977). Isolation of living adult Onchocerca volvulus from nodules. Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie 28, 428–30.Google ScholarPubMed
Toe, L., Merriweather, A. & Unnasch, T. R. (1994). DNA probe-based classification of Simulium damnosum s.l.-borne and human-derived filarial parasites in The Onchocerciasis Control Programme Area. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 51, 676–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Unnasch, T. R. & Zimmerman, P. A. (1995). Systematics: questions and approaches for the molecular parasitologist. In Molecular Approaches to Parasitology (ed. Boothroyd, J. C. & Komuniecki, R.) pp. 5–20, New York: Wiley-Liss, Inc.Google Scholar
Vuong, P. N., Bain, O., Cabaret, J., Petit, C., Prod'hon, J., Ranque, P. & Chabaud, A. G. (1988). Forest and savanna onchocerciasis: comparative morphometric histopathology of skin lesions. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 39, 105–10.Google ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1987). Expert Committee on Onchocerciasis. World Health Organization Technical Report Series 752, 1–167.Google Scholar
Yarzábal, L., Botto, C., Lobo, L., Santiago, A. R. & Argüello, c. (1983). Morfobiometria y recuentos nucleares del deme de Onchocerca volvulus s.l. de la Sierra Parima. In Las Filariasis Humanas en el Territorio Federal Amazonas (Venezuela), Vol. 2 (ed. Proicet, Amazonas), pp. 61–71. Caracas: Publication Cientifica.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, P. A., Dadzie, K. Y., De Sole, G., Remme, J., Soumbey, Alley E. & Unnasch, T. R. (1992). Onchocerca volvulus DNA probe classification correlates with epidemiologic patterns of blindness. Journal of Infectious Diseases 165, 964–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, P. A., Toe, L. & Unnasch, T. R. (1993). Design of Onchocerca DNA probes based upon analysis of a repeated sequence family. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 58, 259–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, P. A., Katholi, C. R., Wooten, M. C., Langunnasch, N. & Unnasch, T. R. (1994). Recent evolutionary history of American Onchocerca volvulus, based on analysis of a tandemly repeated DNA sequence family. Molecular and Biological Evolution 11, 384–92.Google ScholarPubMed