Blastocystis

Koehler, Anson V., Herath, H. M. P. Dilrukshi, Hall, Ross S., Wilcox, Stephen & Gasser, Robin B., 2024, Marked genetic diversity within Blastocystis in Australian wildlife revealed using a next generation sequencing-phylogenetic approach, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 23, pp. 100902-100902 : 100902-

3.4. Presence of multiple Blastocystis STs in most animal species

Multiple STs were recorded in eastern grey kangaroo, swamp wallaby, red deer, fallow deer, sambar deer, canids and emu, but not in European rabbits or common wombats ( Table 3, Fig. 4 ). Most eastern grey kangaroos (89.4%) harboured two to four STs, and 50.0 % of

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swamp wallabies had two STs ( Table 3, Supplementary file 4). Of all eastern grey kangaroos with multiple STs, most (88.3%) had both ST13 and ST46 ( Table 3). Interestingly, ST45 alone was present only in two kangaroo samples (see Fig. 4 ). Wallaby samples contained either a combination of ST13 and ST46 (33.3%), or of ST10 and ST13 (16.7%).

Both red deer (90.0%) and sambar deer (97.0 %) harboured two to six different STs, and all fallow deer samples (100.0%) contained either three, four, five or six ST combinations ( Table 3, Supplementary file 4). Most ST combinations (n = 24) were recorded in sambar deer, including mixes of two to six STs ( Table 3), with the ST10/ST14/ST21/ST23/ ST24/ST25 combination being commonest (37.9%; Table 3). In red and fallow deer, the commonest ST combinations were ST10/ST14/ST21/ ST23/ST24/ST25 (30.0%) and ST10/ST14/ST21/ST23/ST24/ST25 (56.0%), respectively. In emu, the sole combinations were ST13/ST46 or ST14/ST21/ST23/ST24/ST25, whereas only one combination (ST13/ ST46) was recorded in one feral dog sample ( Table 3).

Figures

Fig. 4. Relative abundance of Blastocystis subtypes (STs) in marsupial and deer species. Marsupials are represented by eastern grey kangaroos and wallabies; deer are represented by red, fallow and sambar deer. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)