Molecular characterization of Fasciola species isolated from imported sheep in Taif region (Saudi Arabia)

Accurate identification of Fasciola species, followed by biological and ecological characterization, is important with concern to the planning for field control. Because there are many variations in morphological characteristics, exact distinguishing of Fasciola species is usually difficult by simple traditional microscopic measurements and, therefore, the morphometric characterization may be insufficient for the species identification. Hence, the present work was proposed to collect 100 liver samples from 100 imported sheep from Sudan from slaughterhouses in Taif region. The samples were firstly examined macroscopically and microscopically to ensure the presence or absence of infection. The collected worms were subjected for RAPD-PCR analysis using different primers and ITS1 sequences for accurate identification. Using RAPD-PCR analysis, two primers were selected to amplify the DNA of each Fasciola. The results show that the amplification fragments were between 500 and 1500 bp and, the use of random genetic markers allowed to discriminate among the different collected species. Using Internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) sequencing, the imported sheep in Taif region consisted of 630 bps including complete ITS1, partial 18S and 5.8S and had 5 variable nucleotide positions. This is the first demonstration of the existence of both F. hepatica, F. gigantica and hybrid and/or introgressed populations of liver flukes bearing genetic material from both F. hepatica and F. gigantica in the imported sheep in Saudi Arabia by a genetic approach.