Identification of Hammondia heydorni oocysts by a heminested-PCR (hnPCR-AP10) based on the H. heydorni RAPD fragment AP10

Toxoplasma gondii, Hammondia hammondi, Neospora caninum, Neospora hughesi and Hammondia heydorni are members of the Toxoplasmatinae sub-family. They are closely related coccidians with similarly sized oocysts. Molecular diagnostic techniques, especially those based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR), can be successfully applied for the differentiation of Hammondia-like oocysts. In this paper, we describe a rapid and simple method for the identification of H. heydorni oocysts among other members of the Toxoplasmatinae sub-family, using a heminested-PCR (hnPCR-AP10) based on a H. heydorni RAPD fragment available in molecular database. DNA of oocysts of H. heydorni yielded a specific fragment of 289-290 bp in the heminested-PCR assay. No product was yielded when the primers were used for the amplification of DNA extracted from T. gondii, N. caninum, N. hughesi and H. hammondi, thus allowing the differentiation of H. heydorni among other members of the Toxoplasmatinae sub-family. The hnPCR-AP10 was capable of detecting H. heydorni genetic sequences from suspensions with at least 10 oocysts. In conclusion, the hnPCR-AP10 proved to be a reliable method to be used in the identification of H. heydorni oocysts from feces of dogs.