Molecular evidence of Babesia species in Procyon cancrivorus (Carnivora, Procyonidae) in Uruguay

The crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus) is a carnivore widely distributed from southern Central America to all South American countries except Chile. In the Southern cone of America, P. cancrivorus has been found parasitized by several Amblyomma spp. Particularly, in Uruguay, A. aureolatum is...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Thompson, Carolina Soledad, Mangold, Atilio Jose, Félix, María L., Carvalho, Luis, Armúa Fernández, María T., Venzal, José M.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2018
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/84856
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/84856
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:AMBLYOMMA AUREOLATUM
BABESIA SP.
CRAB-EATING RACCOON
PROCYON CANCRIVORUS
URUGUAY
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4
Description
Summary:The crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus) is a carnivore widely distributed from southern Central America to all South American countries except Chile. In the Southern cone of America, P. cancrivorus has been found parasitized by several Amblyomma spp. Particularly, in Uruguay, A. aureolatum is the only tick found in this wild carnivore. Piroplasmid hemoparasites were found in Procyon lotor from North America and Japan. In this work, molecular evidence Babesia sp. DNA was found in blood and tissues from road-killed P. cancrivorus from different locations in Uruguay. PCRs targeting 18S rRNA gene were carried out. Subsequently, the obtained amplicons were sequenced and full-length sequences was assembled. A phylogenetic tree was constructed and revealed that the Babesia sp. found in this work clustered with other 18sRNA sequences of Babesia spp. obtained from P. lotor from Japan and USA, along with Babesia spp. of maned wolf and I. ovatus. This is the first report of molecular evidence of Babesia sp. parasitizing P. cancrivorus.