Isozyme Discrimination between Paragonimus heterotremus and P. miyazakii

Abstract

Abstract

The lung flukes, Thai Paragonimus heterotremus and Japanese P. miyazakii were assayed using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis to distinguish between the isolates. Twelve loci were obtained from ten enzymes recovered from two species of Paragonimus populations. Nine enzymes tested showed only a single band, whereas one enzyme, malic dehydrogenase (Mdh), showed three banding patterns. Three of twelve loci in P. heterotremus and one locus in P. miyazakii were polymorphic, whereas nine loci were a single monomorphic band, which was seen in both species. Isozyme patterns for acid phosphatase (Acph), adenylate kinase (Ak), hexokinase (Hk) and malic dehydrogenase (Mdh) were identical in all Paragonimus. Esterase (Est), phosphoglucomutase (Pgm) and 6- phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6Pgd) showed slightly different patterns, while glucose phosphate isomerase (Gpi), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6pdh) and malic enzyme (Me) showed remarkable differentiations, indicating a specie-specific marker between the two different populations.

Keywords: Paragonimus heterotremus; P. miyazakii; isozyme; electrophoresis; Thailand; Japan