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Updated: Mar 23, 2026
Determination of Chemical Inhibitor Efficiency against Intracellular Toxoplasma Gondii Growth Using a Luciferase-Based Growth Assay
Published on: April 29, 2020
An alternative nested-PCR assay for the detection of Toxoplasma gondii strains based on GRA7 gene sequences
Maria Eduarda S M Costa1, Claudio Bruno S Oliveira2, Joelma Maria de A Andrade2
1Laboratório de Biologia Molecular Aplicada-LAPLIC, Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Parasitária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil.
Abstract:
Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread parasite able to infect virtually any nucleated cells of warm-blooded hosts. In some cases, T. gondii detection using already developed PCR primers can be inefficient in routine laboratory tests, especially to detect atypical strains. Here we report a new nested-PCR protocol able to detect virtually all T. gondii isolates. Analyzing 685 sequences available in GenBank, we determine that GRA7 is one of the most conserved genes of T. gondii genome. Based on an alignment of 85 GRA7 sequences new primer sets that anneal in the highly conserved regions of this gene were designed. The new GRA7 nested-PCR assay providing sensitivity and specificity equal to or greater than the gold standard PCR assays for T. gondii detection, that amplify the B1 sequence or the repetitive 529bp element.
