Rimsha Farooq¹, Mian Abdul Hafeez*¹, Muhammad Oneeb¹, Azhar Rafique³, Kamran Ashraf¹, Faiza Aslam⁴, Nauman Rauf¹, Kiran Khalid¹, Farrukh Bilal¹, Sammina Mahmood⁵ and Adeel Sattar²

Babesiosis is a key tick born disease caused by the protozoal parasites belonging to the genus Babesia, cosmopolitan in nature and infecting enormous range of large ruminants. Study was intended to determine the presence of local isolates of Babesia species (B. bovis, B. bigemina) their molecular characterization and phylogenetic relationship in cattle (district Narowal) Punjab. Blood samples were collected from 200 suspected cattle, from seven villages of selected district. DNA was extracted by using DNA zole, Gene-all Kit, manual method and subjected to PCR for amplification using specific RLB and Universal Primers. Quantification of protozoan parasite was performed by RT PCR using Solis biodine kit. A total of 36 out of 200 animal samples, were found positive by microscopy. PCR positive samples (17) were amplified and bands of strength 520-bp and 800-bp with specific RLB and for universal primers respectively were obtained for Babesia species. These 17 samples were sent for sequencing and by using Clustal W; Bioedit software with Neighbor-joining method phylogenetic tree was established. Current study reported the presence of B. bigemina i.e. 18% (conventional method) in large ruminants of district Narowal, Pakistan, and confirmation by (molecular characterization) PCR (8.5%) and phylogenetic relationship. Phylogenetic results showed that our study has homology with Babesia bigemina strain.

To Cite This Article: Farooq R, Hafeez MA, Oneeb M, Rafique A, Ashraf K, Aslam F, Rauf N, Khalid K, Bilal F, Mahmood S and Sattar A, 2020. Molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of Babesia species isolated from domestic cattle. Pak Vet J, 40(2): 224-228. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2019.003