Naser, Siti Alawiyah Jamal Abdul
(2022)
Morphological Characterisation,
Molecular Subtyping And Phylogeny
Of Blastocystis Sp. Isolated From Turkey
(Meleagris Gallopavo) In Penang, Malaysia.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Most poultry farms in Malaysia preferred rearing chickens either for eggs
or/and meat than turkeys. This is due to several challenges such as parasitic load and
heat stress in rearing turkey. Blastocystis is one of the most common protozoan
parasites infecting poultry. As no study was conducted on study of Blastocystis
infection in turkey in Malaysia, this study aims to determine the current status, the
morphological characteristics and subtyping of Blastocystis from turkey reared either
in closed house or free-range system in Penang, Malaysia. It was found that the
prevalence of Blastocystis sp. infection in turkeys were moderately high with 41.6%
(25/60) in the closed house and 45.0% (45/100) in free-range system as infection was
higher in the female turkeys with no gastrointestinal signs and symptoms. Vacuolar
form was the most common form found in the in vitro culture ranged between 5 to
20 μm in diameter with a rough surface coat and undulating cell surface viewed
under the scanning electron microscope. Meanwhile, the ultrastructure of the cells
from turkey isolates were varies with partially expanded electron-opaque vacuoles to
electron-dense in fully distended vacuoles. Interestingly, the sequence analysis of 30
positive Blastocystis isolates from turkeys revealed one ST and three alleles namely,
ST7 allele 99 (73.4%, n=22), ST7 allele 100 (23.3%, n=7) and ST7 allele 101 (3.3%,
n=1). This was the first study to evaluate the prevalence, morphological and ST of
Blastocystis sp. isolated from free-range and close house turkeys in Malaysia
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
