Molecular Identification of Animal Fasciola Isolates in Southwest of Iran

The aim of this study was to identify Fasciola isolates collected from natural livers of livestock by RFLP and sequencing in southwest of Iran. Morphological examination and biologic characters cannot cause a certainty in the accurate and precise identification and intra and inter-specific differences of Fasciola spp. In this study, we identified Fasciola species using 28S marker in isolates from Khuzestan slaughterhouse in south-western Iran. A number of 502 adult Fasciola worms were isolated from the natural infected livers of buffalo, cattle, sheep and goat in local slaughterhouses. Total genomic DNA was extracted from 70% ethanol stored flukes by extraction kit with some modification. The results indicated three hundred fourteen isolates out of 502(62.5%) identified as F.gigantica and 188(37.5%) as F. hepatica. All sequences of the different isolates showed high identity (99-100%) indicating no significant genetic variations in 28S rDNA. In conclusion, using 28S marker through PCR-RFLP method, without need to sequencing could discriminate easily between F. hepatica and F. gigantica and therefore could be very useful method to identify the causal of fasciolosis especially in areas where both F. hepatica and F. gigantica are coexist.