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Author Spotlight: Studying Behavior of Acanthamoeba to Develop Targeted Strategies for Preventing Acanthamoeba Keratitis
Published on: September 20, 2024
Identification and quantification of the Acanthamoeba species and genotypes from reservoirs in Taiwan by molecular
Po-Min Kao1, Bing-Mu Hsu1, Chen-Te Chen2
1Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan, ROC.
Abstract:
The occurrence of Acanthamoeba was investigated from 21 main reservoirs of Taiwan with 12 (57.1%) testing positive. Analysis of the 18S rRNA gene PCR product was performed in order to identify the Acanthamoeba isolates. Acanthamoeba spp. concentrations were determined according to TaqMan real-time qPCR. Acanthamoeba genotypes of all isolates were identified T4. The species were categorized to Acanthamoeba culbertsoni, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, Acanthamoeba castellanii and Acanthamoeba hatchetti. The concentration of Acanthamoeba spp. in detected positive reservoir water samples was in the range of 3.0-1.8 × 10(3) cells/L. These results highlight the importance of Acanthamoeba in reservoirs of potential pathogens and its possible role in the spread of bacterial genera with interest in public and environmental health.
