Establishmentand Application of a Duplex Real-time PCR Method for Detectionof Piroplasmosis Disease
Two pairs ofprimers and two MGB probes were designed based on sequence alignment,after system optimization,a duplex real-time PCR method foridentification and detection of two pathogens(Theileria equiand Babesia caballi)of piroplasmosisdisease was established. The detection limits were 22 and 31 gene copiesrespectively,and no cross reaction with otherpathogens of horse diseases was observed. By the established real-time PCR,10 whole blood and 20 serum samplescollected from imported and exported horses were tested,and 2 positive samples(against Theileria equi)were detected;then EMA1 gene from the two positivesamples were amplified through a pair of amplification primers of EMA1 gene ofTheileria equi. After being cloned and sequenced,the wholesequence of the genes were analyzed,and theamplified genes were confirmed to be the specific sequences of Theileria equi;The similarity of EMA1 sequence of thetwo samples was 98.9%,with six aminoacid mutations,indicating that the worms in the twosamples might belong to different strains of Theileria equi.