Development of a diagnostic dna probe to detect setaria digtata: The causative parasite of cerebrospinal nematodiasis in goats,sheep and horses

Abstract

Two repetitive sequences (IpSdM and IpSdS) have been cloned andsequenced from the genome of Setaria digitata. When IpSdM (214 bp) and IpSdS (201 bp) were aligned, a high degree of homology (85%) was observed, indicating that they belong to the same family of repeats. IpSdM represents a complete repeating element while IpSdS consists of two partial repeating elements arranged in tandem. The elements are present in about 10 000 copies comprising 2.8% of the S. digilata genome. As a diagnostic probe IpSdM detects as little as 100 pg DNA of both S. digilata and S. labiato-papillosa. It can also detect a single microfilaria and a L3 larva making it a valuable tool to monitor cattle and mosquito vector populations in the prevention of cerebrospinal nematodiasis.