Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples

Autores
Bambeni, Thandikhaya; Schnittger, Leonhard; Bhoora, Raksha Vasantrai
Año de publicación
2026
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Babesia bovis causes significant losses in South African cattle, and antigenic variation in the merozoite surface antigen 1 (msa−1) complicates vaccine and diagnostic development. This study provides the first detailed molecular characterisation of msa−1 genetic diversity in South African cattle populations. Analysis of 18 successfully sequenced isolates (∼960 bp) revealed extensive polymorphism, with pairwise nucleotide sequence identities ranging from 30.1% to 100%, and amino acid similarities ranging from 37.6% to 100%. Population genetic metrics of the highly variable MSA−1 confirmed high nucleotide diversity (π = 0.37) and haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.94). Although these estimations are based on a modest sample size (n = 18), high levels of diversity highlight the extreme polymorphism of the msa−1 gene. A larger sample size in future studies would yield narrower confidence intervals and more precise estimates of these population genetic parameters. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the South African isolates into two of the three global clades (clades I and II). Clades I and II showed high heterogeneity among isolates, both within and between countries, unlike Clade III, which mainly contained Asian isolates. Codon-based Z-test demonstrated that the msa−1 gene undergoes strong positive selection in South Africa (Z = 5.25, p < 0.01), providing evidence of B. bovis diversification into different variants. Genetic differentiation at the continental and country levels showed moderate to very high subdivision (Fst = 0.10–0.48) between South African and global populations, and particularly high subdivision (Fst = 0.38–0.48) with Asian isolates. These findings provide initial evidence of the complex evolutionary dynamics of B. bovis in South Africa and corroborate that the high variability of msa−1 facilitates immune evasion and contributes to vaccine breakthrough. Future research should evaluate more conserved antigenic markers for effective vaccine development.
Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria
Fil: Bambeni, Thandikhaya. University of Pretoria. Faculty of Veterinary Science. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases; Sudáfrica
Fil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria; Argentina
Fil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Bhoora, Raksha. University of Pretoria. Faculty of Veterinary Science. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases; Sudáfrica
Fuente
Veterinary Parasitology 347 : 110862. (October 2026)
Materia
Ganado Bovino
Enfermedades de los Animales
Antígenos
Filogenética
Variación Genética
Sudáfrica
Cattle
Animal Diseases
Babesia bovis
Antigens
Phylogenetics
Genetic Variation
South Africa
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
INTA Digital (INTA)
Institución
Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
OAI Identificador
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oai_identifier_str oai:localhost:20.500.12123/27843
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spelling Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samplesBambeni, ThandikhayaSchnittger, LeonhardBhoora, Raksha VasantraiGanado BovinoEnfermedades de los AnimalesAntígenosFilogenéticaVariación GenéticaSudáfricaCattleAnimal DiseasesBabesia bovisAntigensPhylogeneticsGenetic VariationSouth AfricaBabesia bovis causes significant losses in South African cattle, and antigenic variation in the merozoite surface antigen 1 (msa−1) complicates vaccine and diagnostic development. This study provides the first detailed molecular characterisation of msa−1 genetic diversity in South African cattle populations. Analysis of 18 successfully sequenced isolates (∼960 bp) revealed extensive polymorphism, with pairwise nucleotide sequence identities ranging from 30.1% to 100%, and amino acid similarities ranging from 37.6% to 100%. Population genetic metrics of the highly variable MSA−1 confirmed high nucleotide diversity (π = 0.37) and haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.94). Although these estimations are based on a modest sample size (n = 18), high levels of diversity highlight the extreme polymorphism of the msa−1 gene. A larger sample size in future studies would yield narrower confidence intervals and more precise estimates of these population genetic parameters. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the South African isolates into two of the three global clades (clades I and II). Clades I and II showed high heterogeneity among isolates, both within and between countries, unlike Clade III, which mainly contained Asian isolates. Codon-based Z-test demonstrated that the msa−1 gene undergoes strong positive selection in South Africa (Z = 5.25, p < 0.01), providing evidence of B. bovis diversification into different variants. Genetic differentiation at the continental and country levels showed moderate to very high subdivision (Fst = 0.10–0.48) between South African and global populations, and particularly high subdivision (Fst = 0.38–0.48) with Asian isolates. These findings provide initial evidence of the complex evolutionary dynamics of B. bovis in South Africa and corroborate that the high variability of msa−1 facilitates immune evasion and contributes to vaccine breakthrough. Future research should evaluate more conserved antigenic markers for effective vaccine development.Instituto de Patobiología VeterinariaFil: Bambeni, Thandikhaya. University of Pretoria. Faculty of Veterinary Science. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases; SudáfricaFil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bhoora, Raksha. University of Pretoria. Faculty of Veterinary Science. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases; SudáfricaElsevier2026-09-18T12:13:48Z2026-09-18T12:13:48Z2026-10info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/27843https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S03044017260018100304-40171873-2550https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2026.110862Veterinary Parasitology 347 : 110862. (October 2026)reponame:INTA Digital (INTA)instname:Instituto Nacional de Tecnología AgropecuariaengSouth Africa .......... (nation) (World, Africa)1000193info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)2026-09-24T11:43:50Zoai:localhost:20.500.12123/27843instacron:INTAInstitucionalhttp://repositorio.inta.gob.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://repositorio.inta.gob.ar/oai/requesttripaldi.nicolas@inta.gob.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:l2026-09-24 11:43:51.709INTA Digital (INTA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuariafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
title Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
spellingShingle Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
Bambeni, Thandikhaya
Ganado Bovino
Enfermedades de los Animales
Antígenos
Filogenética
Variación Genética
Sudáfrica
Cattle
Animal Diseases
Babesia bovis
Antigens
Phylogenetics
Genetic Variation
South Africa
title_short Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
title_full Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
title_fullStr Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
title_full_unstemmed Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
title_sort Diversity and population genetic analysis of the Babesia bovis merozoite surface Antigen 1 (MSA−1) gene in South African cattle isolates from field and clinical samples
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bambeni, Thandikhaya
Schnittger, Leonhard
Bhoora, Raksha Vasantrai
author Bambeni, Thandikhaya
author_facet Bambeni, Thandikhaya
Schnittger, Leonhard
Bhoora, Raksha Vasantrai
author_role author
author2 Schnittger, Leonhard
Bhoora, Raksha Vasantrai
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ganado Bovino
Enfermedades de los Animales
Antígenos
Filogenética
Variación Genética
Sudáfrica
Cattle
Animal Diseases
Babesia bovis
Antigens
Phylogenetics
Genetic Variation
South Africa
topic Ganado Bovino
Enfermedades de los Animales
Antígenos
Filogenética
Variación Genética
Sudáfrica
Cattle
Animal Diseases
Babesia bovis
Antigens
Phylogenetics
Genetic Variation
South Africa
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Babesia bovis causes significant losses in South African cattle, and antigenic variation in the merozoite surface antigen 1 (msa−1) complicates vaccine and diagnostic development. This study provides the first detailed molecular characterisation of msa−1 genetic diversity in South African cattle populations. Analysis of 18 successfully sequenced isolates (∼960 bp) revealed extensive polymorphism, with pairwise nucleotide sequence identities ranging from 30.1% to 100%, and amino acid similarities ranging from 37.6% to 100%. Population genetic metrics of the highly variable MSA−1 confirmed high nucleotide diversity (π = 0.37) and haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.94). Although these estimations are based on a modest sample size (n = 18), high levels of diversity highlight the extreme polymorphism of the msa−1 gene. A larger sample size in future studies would yield narrower confidence intervals and more precise estimates of these population genetic parameters. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the South African isolates into two of the three global clades (clades I and II). Clades I and II showed high heterogeneity among isolates, both within and between countries, unlike Clade III, which mainly contained Asian isolates. Codon-based Z-test demonstrated that the msa−1 gene undergoes strong positive selection in South Africa (Z = 5.25, p < 0.01), providing evidence of B. bovis diversification into different variants. Genetic differentiation at the continental and country levels showed moderate to very high subdivision (Fst = 0.10–0.48) between South African and global populations, and particularly high subdivision (Fst = 0.38–0.48) with Asian isolates. These findings provide initial evidence of the complex evolutionary dynamics of B. bovis in South Africa and corroborate that the high variability of msa−1 facilitates immune evasion and contributes to vaccine breakthrough. Future research should evaluate more conserved antigenic markers for effective vaccine development.
Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria
Fil: Bambeni, Thandikhaya. University of Pretoria. Faculty of Veterinary Science. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases; Sudáfrica
Fil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patobiología Veterinaria; Argentina
Fil: Schnittger, Leonhard. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Fil: Bhoora, Raksha. University of Pretoria. Faculty of Veterinary Science. Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases; Sudáfrica
description Babesia bovis causes significant losses in South African cattle, and antigenic variation in the merozoite surface antigen 1 (msa−1) complicates vaccine and diagnostic development. This study provides the first detailed molecular characterisation of msa−1 genetic diversity in South African cattle populations. Analysis of 18 successfully sequenced isolates (∼960 bp) revealed extensive polymorphism, with pairwise nucleotide sequence identities ranging from 30.1% to 100%, and amino acid similarities ranging from 37.6% to 100%. Population genetic metrics of the highly variable MSA−1 confirmed high nucleotide diversity (π = 0.37) and haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.94). Although these estimations are based on a modest sample size (n = 18), high levels of diversity highlight the extreme polymorphism of the msa−1 gene. A larger sample size in future studies would yield narrower confidence intervals and more precise estimates of these population genetic parameters. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the South African isolates into two of the three global clades (clades I and II). Clades I and II showed high heterogeneity among isolates, both within and between countries, unlike Clade III, which mainly contained Asian isolates. Codon-based Z-test demonstrated that the msa−1 gene undergoes strong positive selection in South Africa (Z = 5.25, p < 0.01), providing evidence of B. bovis diversification into different variants. Genetic differentiation at the continental and country levels showed moderate to very high subdivision (Fst = 0.10–0.48) between South African and global populations, and particularly high subdivision (Fst = 0.38–0.48) with Asian isolates. These findings provide initial evidence of the complex evolutionary dynamics of B. bovis in South Africa and corroborate that the high variability of msa−1 facilitates immune evasion and contributes to vaccine breakthrough. Future research should evaluate more conserved antigenic markers for effective vaccine development.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026-09-18T12:13:48Z
2026-09-18T12:13:48Z
2026-10
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/27843
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304401726001810
0304-4017
1873-2550
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2026.110862
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/27843
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304401726001810
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2026.110862
identifier_str_mv 0304-4017
1873-2550
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.coverage.none.fl_str_mv South Africa .......... (nation) (World, Africa)
1000193
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Veterinary Parasitology 347 : 110862. (October 2026)
reponame:INTA Digital (INTA)
instname:Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
reponame_str INTA Digital (INTA)
collection INTA Digital (INTA)
instname_str Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
repository.name.fl_str_mv INTA Digital (INTA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
repository.mail.fl_str_mv tripaldi.nicolas@inta.gob.ar
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