A morphological and molecular study of hydatid cyst in slaughtered sheep in Mashhad area

Hydatid cyst is an important zoonotic diseases the agent of disease is Echinococcus granolusus that have many strains. Each strain has different biology that identification of them is critical for control of hydatid cyst in every region. The aim of study was to identify Echinococcus granolusus strains in slaughtered sheep using morphological and molecular methods in Mashhad area. Many infected liver and lung with hydatid cysts were collected and transferred to laboratory. First, protosclocies of hydatid fluid were isolated, then the morphological characters of rostellar hook protosclocies were examined using light microscope. Thus, DNA of protosclocies in each sample was extracted with commercial Kit. The ITS1 fragments of extracted DNA were amplified by PCR. The PCR product was digested with Bsh1236I enzyme. The size of total length large hooks, length blade of large hooks ,total length small hooks and length blade of small hooks were measured 24.47± 1.13μm, 12.27±0.5 μm, 19.4±0.8 μm and 9.07±0.7 μm, respectively. Based on pattern of PCR-RLFP results, the existence of G1- G3 strains of Echinococcus granolusus were possible. Differentiation of three strains was done using sequencing analysis. The Blast analysis showed the presence of G1 strain in slaughtered sheep. The results was confirmed the presence of G1 strain of Echinoccocus in the slaughtered sheep of Mashhad area.