Occurrence and multilocus genotyping of Giardia duodenalis in captive non-human primates from 12 zoos in China

Xueping Zhang,Xiaoping Ma,Yi Geng,Guangneng Peng,Liqin Wang,Ziyao Zhou,Hualin Fu,Zhijun Zhong,Suizhong Cao,Yanchun Hu,Xiaobin Gu,Shumin Yu,Xinting Lan,Haifeng Liu,Jiaming Dan,Zhihua Ren,Yufei Wang,Liuhong Shen,Junliang Deng,Wang Ya ,Zhuang Zuo ,Chao He

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0228673

Xueping Zhang, Xiaoping Ma + Show 20 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228673

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Abstract

Giardia duodenalis is a common enteric protozoan that infects a range of hosts including humans and other mammals. Multilocus genotyping of G. duodenalis in captive non-human primates (NHPs) from zoos in China is limited. In this study, we evaluated 302 NHP fecal samples collected from 32 different NHP species. The primates were from 12 zoos distributed across eight provinces and two municipalities (Chongqing and Beijing) of China. The overall infection rate was 8.3% (25/302). The six G. duodenalis-positive zoos and their infection rates were: Suzhou Zoo (40.0%, 4/10), Yangzhou Zoo (22.2%, 2/9), Dalian Zoo (16.7%, 4/24), Chengdu Zoo (12.8%, 6/47), Guiyang Forest Wildlife Zoo (12.1%, 7/58), and Changsha Zoo (4.7%, 2/43). Molecular analysis of three loci, beta-giardin (bg), triose phosphate isomerase (tpi), and glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh), showed high genetic heterogeneity, and seven novel subtypes (BIII-1, MB10-1, WB8-1, B14-1, MB9-1, DN7-1, and BIV-1) were detected within assemblage B. Additional analysis revealed 12 different assemblage B multilocus genotypes (MLGs), one known MLG and 11 novel MLGs. Based on phylogenetic analysis, 12 assemblage B MLGs formed two main clades, MLG-SW (10-12, 18) and MLG-SW (13, 14, 16, 17), the other four MLG-SW (15, 19, 20, 21) were scattered throughout the phylogenetic tree in this study. Using multilocus genotyping, this study expands our understanding of the occurrence of Giardia infection and genetic variation in Giardia in captive non-human primates from zoos in China.

Highlights

Giardia duodenalis is an intestinal parasite that causes giardiasis in humans and animals
In this study, infected non-human primates (NHPs) were detected from six zoos of the 12 examined zoos
Suzhou Zoo had the highest infection rate (40.0%, 4/10), followed by Yangzhou Zoo (22.2%, 2/9), Dalian Zoo (16.7%, 4/24), Chengdu Zoo (12.8%, 6/47), Guiyang Forest Wildlife Zoo (12.1%, 7/58), and Changsha Zoo (4.7%, 2/43) (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Giardia duodenalis is an intestinal parasite that causes giardiasis in humans and animals. Most Chinese studies evaluating G. duodenalis infection in NHPs have focused on a single zoo or localized area. Ongoing epidemiological surveys on intestinal zoonotic parasites of G. duodenalis, expanded previous studies to large-scale investigation of zoos and NHP species in China. We used multilocus genotyping to evaluate 302 NHP fecal samples (including 32 primate species) from 12 zoos distributed across eight Chinese provinces and two municipalities (Chongqing and Beijing), to better understand G. duodenalis infection in captive NHPs throughout China

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Results and discussion

Conclusion