Molecular polymorphisms associated with Egyptian, European, Chinese and North American Fasciola hepatica.

A new PCR based system was used that had a broad detection capabilty among parasites based on a conserved region of the 18s of the 18s ribosomal DNA genes. Five samples each of Egyptian, European and Chinese F. hepatica of bovine origin were obtained and DNA was isolated. The PCR primers recognized a fragment of approxiniately 700 nucleotides in length. Sequences were compaici over a 107 base pair region that identified polymorphisms between the strains. All the sequences from Egyptian isolates were identical, similarly so with all European and Chinese isolates. However, there were polymorphisms between these isolates and the isolates from North America. All isolates have a single base additional in target region and there was a single base substitution in Egyptian isolates when compared to others.