Cryptic species of the digeneans, Cercaria batillariae (Heterophyidae) and an undescribed philophthalmid, were detected using polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment-length polymorphism methodology and sequence analyses. These digeneans were all collected from the same species of gastropod first intermediate host, Batillaria cumingi (=Batillaria attramentaria). The mitochondrial cy...

The genus Acinetobacter is subdivided into genospecies on the basis of DNA relatedness of strains. Phenotypic tests are insufficient to identify the genospecies to which an isolate belongs. The effectiveness of two previously described PCR-based methods for genospeciating Acinetobacter spp. was compared using a group of 32 well-characterised strains representing six genospecies. Amplified ribos...

BACKGROUND The spread of PRRSV among pig herds has been investigated experimentally, but few observational studies have investigated this subject. Because PRRSV is endemic and live modified vaccines are used in Ontario, the spatial and temporal distributions of 6 PRRSV genotypes were investigated in the province during the period from 2004-2007. The purpose was to find evidence of spread of PRR...

Two groups of Trypanosoma congolense isolates collected from cattle in 1996 (n=39) and 2003 (n=38) in the Eastern Province of Zambia were analyzed by BclI-PCR-RFLP to assess the evolution of diminazene aceturate (DA) resistance over a period of seven years. The results show a significant increase of DA resistance in this relatively short period of time. In 1996, among the 39 isolates, 61.5% wer...

A permanently high virulence was found in tachyzoites of T. gondii K24 after serial passage in mice (90 passages during 324 days). Virulence tests revealed that a single tachyzoite of the 50th passage represented LD100 for mice. Analysis of genotype of K24 isolate was done by PCR/RFLP with ROP1/Ddel, SAG1/Ddel, 850/Rsal and IGS/Rsal and by RFLP/DNA with TGR1E sequence and Pstl enzyme. K24 isola...

PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of a 960-bp fragment of the Campylobacter gyrB gene with either DdeI or XspI restriction enzymes generated unique digestion patterns for 12 different Campylobacter species. In addition, PCR assays using species-specific primer sets targeting gyrB were specific for the respective Campylobacter species. Therefore, PCR-RFLP analysis and ...

AFLP is a novel high resolution fingerprinting method that can be used to delineate intraspecific relationships among a large variety of organisms, including bacteria. In the present study, this method was tested for its usefulness in the epidemiological typing of Acinetobacter strains. A total of 25 Acinetobacter strains originating from five hospital outbreaks in three countries were used. Is...

Four new species, Aspergillus eucalypticola, A. neoniger, A. fijiensis and A. indologenus are described and illustrated. Aspergillus eucalypticola was isolated from Eucalyptus leaf from Australia, and is related to A. tubingensis and A. costaricaensis, but could clearly be distinguished from them based on either β-tubulin or calmodulin sequence data. Aspergillus eucalypticola produced pyranonig...