Genetic Diversity of Trypanosomes Infesting Cattle from Savannah District in North of Côte d'Ivoire Using Conserved Genomic Signatures: rRNA, ITS1 and gGAPDH

The potential danger to livestock from African animal trypanosomiasis is well known. However, the trypanosome species circulating in cattle and their genetics are poorly understood. After different alignments according to three regions (ITS1, gGAPDH and rRNA gene) of the trypanosome genome, phylogenetic analyses were used to show the genetic diversity of the different species that were circulating in the cattle in three regions (Bagoue, Poro and Tchologo) of Côte d'Ivoire. These analyses were performed by alignment of ITS1; by alignment of partial 18S, ITS1, 5.8S, ITS2 and partial 28S rRNA genes; and by alignment of gGAPDH gene with sequences of Trypanosomes found in GenBank. Three species were identified ( , and ) in the cattle in the three northern regions of Côte d'Ivoire. and were the most abundant species in the present study. Contrary to the other primers used in this study, the ITS1 primers were not able to amplify . We observed mixed infections between and the other two species identified ( and ). As far as primers are concerned, in some cases, rRNA was able to identify the same species of trypanosomes that the ITS1 and gGAPDH primers were able to identify. Two main distinct groups of complex were identified. The and strains were close to African strains, such as those from Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon, unlike the strain. Three trypanosome species ( , and ) circulate in cattle in the Savannah district of Côte d'Ivoire. The genetic diversity of the trypanosome species encountered in this study cannot be classified as intraspecies according to geographical area and breed of cattle they infect.