Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Documenting the extent of soil contamination by Toxoplasma gondii oocysts is a key issue to prevent the worldwide infection caused by this protozoan. Our aim was to improve the practicability and sensitivity of a low-cost method to detect T. gondii DNA in soil samples developed a few years ago. Various parameters of the reference protocol were modified to determine their effect on the detection of T. gondii DNA in soil samples ("natural soil" and "sand") spiked with oocysts. We tested i) filtration using stomacher bags, ii) Tween 80, Tween 20, SDS and Triton X100 as dispersion solutions, iii) sucrose solution, zinc chloride solution, Optiprep and Percoll as density gradients, iv) freeze/thaw versus mechanical grinding as lysis methods, and v) Qiagen versus Fastprep as extraction kits The optimized protocol is quicker and easier to use than the previous one, and includes the following items: 0.1% Tween80/PBS for dispersion, sucrose solution for flotation, mechanical grinding, and FastDNA spin kit for extraction. It accurately detects T. gondii DNA in both fresh and frozen soil samples and displays a detection limit below 1 oocyst/g of fresh soil.
Source: Veterinary Parasitology
Institutions: Epidémiosurveillance et circulation des parasites dans les environnements, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Groupe d'Étude sur les Géomatériaux et ENvironnements Anthropisés, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Reims, Hôpital Maison Blanche, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Actalia (France)
Language: English
Subfield: Parasitology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,680
OpenAlex ID: W2968028523