OCCURRENCE AND GENETIC CHARACTERIZATION OF GRA6 AND SAG2 FROM TOXOPLASMA GONDII OOCYSTS IN CAT FECES, KUNMING, CHINA

Toxoplasma gondii-like oocysts were detected in 4% of cat feces using light microscopy in Kunming, China. Amplicon was generated from these oocysts using a T. gondii- but not Hammondia hammondi-specific primer set. Cat and KM mouse were susceptible to infection by these T. gondii-like oocysts. Tissue cysts were found in the brain of the experimentally infected animals and were infective to mouse, indicating that the T. gondii-like oocysts isolated from naturally infected cats had a facultative secondary host life cycle. Comparison of GRA6 and SAG2 sequences with those of reference strains indicated that the cat-derived T. gondii (KM isolate) were typical of T. gondii genotype II. This is the first report of isolation, identification, and genotyping of T. gondii from feline feces in China. The occurrence of oocyst shedding in the cat population studied was higher than that found in most cat populations world-wide, which strongly implies the need for further studies of population genetic structure of T. gondii, as well as for prevention and control of T. gondii infection in cats in China.