Genetic analysis of Echinococcus granulosus from humans and pigs in Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine. A multicenter study

Mitochondrial ND1 gene sequences were obtained from 56 isolates of E. granulosus from pigs collected in Central and East Europe (Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine) and from 5 isolates of E. granulosus from humans collected in Poland. No differences have been found between isolates from all pigs and between those from pigs and humans; all sequences were identical or very similar to the published sequence of the G7 strain. Additionally, 21 clones of the ITS1 rDNA obtained from 5 isolates of E. granulosus collected from pigs in 3 countries and 1 human isolate from Poland, were sequenced. Our data do not confirm the existence of specific G9 strain of E. granulosus in humans (Scott et al. 1997). Moreover, high sequence divergence found between and within the isolates indicates a strong polymorphism of ITS rDNA copies making use of this gene for identification of E. granulosus strains and reconstruction of their phylogenetic relationships questionable.