Isolation of Theileria lestoquardi Sporozoite in order to Produce a New Cell Line Buket

Introduction and

Malignant sheep and goats theileriosis is one of the most important protozoan diseases of sheeps in Iran. Theileria lestoquardi is the only intracellular eukaryotic pathogen that is able to transform its host cells reversibly. Therefore, design of a cell line of ovine lymphocyte that is transformed by the T. lestoquardi is very valuable.

The breeding ticks was infected by feeding on the sheeps that were carrier of Theileria lestoquardi sporozoite in order to obtain homogeneous infected ticks. Then, ovine lymphocytes were infected with Theileria lestoquardi sporozoite stabilate to produce lymphocytic cell line containing T. lestoquardi.

 This research resulted in the development of a new ovine lymphocytic cell line called as Booket. Molecular study confirmed that the cell lines were transformed by T. lestoquardi. The gene sequence of this isolate has been submitted to GenBank with accession no. GU233776.

In this study the second lymphocytic cell line containing T. lestoquardi was established in Iran.