First report of Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Cryptosporidium spp. in peafowl (Pavo cristatus) in China

Feng, Sheng-Yong; Chang, Han; Luo, Jing; Huang, Jing-Jing; He, Hong-Xuan

Three genotypes of E. bieneusi were identified based on analyzing the ITS region, including two known genotype, Peru6 and D, and one novel genotype, JXP1. All the positive samples detected in Beijing belong to genotype D. In Jiangxi Province, the predominant genotype was JXP1, followed by genotype Peru 6 ( Table 3) . Genotype D has been widely found in mammals, including humans (Kicia et al., 2016; Prasertbun et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2017) , non-human primates (Karim et al., 2014) , Suidae (Nemejc et al., 2014; Zhao et al., 2014) , ruminants (Huang et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2015) , canids (Li et al., 2015b; Zhang et al., 2016) , felines Xu et al., 2016) , rodents (Perec-Matysiak et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2016) and equines Qi et al., 2016; Yue et al., 2017) . However, genotype D was reported only in a few avian species, such as chicken (Rodrigues da Cunha et al., 2016), pigeon (Pirestani et al., 2013) , common crane and red-crowned crane , rook (Perec-Matysiak et al., 2017) , falcon (Mueller et al., 2008) and swan goose (Anser cygnoides) (da Cunha et al., 2017) , and our findings constitute the first report of the genotype in peafowl. Genotype Peru6 was mainly reported in humans (Bern et al., 2005; Lobo et al., 2012) , cattle (Santin et al., 2005) , sheep and goats . Pigeon and lovebird also can be infected by the genotype (Luisa Lobo et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2016) . To our knowledge, this is the first report that peafowls were infected with the genotype Peru6. Together, both genotype Peru 6 and D can infect a wider range of host species, including peafowl, thus may cause microsporidiosis to the host. Moreover, the novel genotype (JXP1) of E. bieneusi identified in our study should be further explored to reveal its danger to the host, especially to human beings. Phylogenetic analysis was performed based on the ITS sequence of E. bieneusi. Both genotype Peru 6 and the novel genotype JXP1 obtained in the present study were grouped into group 1b, and genotype D was clustered into the group 1a. Both group 1b and group 1a belong to group 1, the most important human-pathogenic group. These results suggest that peafowl are potential source of human and animal microsporidiosis. Adult D (4) Avian genotype â…¢