Data_Sheet_1_Prevalence and genotyping distribution of Enterocytozoon bieneusi in diarrheic pigs in Chongqing and Sichuan provinces, China.PDF

The microsporidian fungal pathogen Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a unicellular parasite that infects humans and various animals, including pigs. Currently, there are few data on E. bieneusi infection a in diarrheic pigs in Chongqing and Sichuan Provinces, China. This study aims to determine the prevalence and genotype distribution of E. bieneusi in diarrheic pigs. In total, 514 fecal samples from diarrheic pigs were obtained from 14 large-scale farms in Chongqing and Sichuan Provinces (326 suckling pigs, 17 weaned pigs, 65 fattening pigs, and 106 sows). To identify the E. bieneusi genotypes, genomic DNA was isolated from the samples and tested by nested PCR, targeting the internal transcribed spacer region of the rRNA followed by DNA sequence analysis. The overall prevalence of E. bieneusi was 79.8% (410/514), with rates of 84.9% (90/106) in sows and 64.7% (11/17) in weaned pigs. We found 61 different genotypes, including seven known genotypes (E, F, CHG1, Peru8, CAF1, B, and BEB17) and 54 novel genotypes. These 54 new genotypes are variants of eight known genotypes (SDD2, A, B, HLJD-IV, PigSpEb1, O, JLD-I, and BEB17) based on their sequence similarities. Phylogenetically, all of the identified genotypes clustered with counterparts belonging to Group 1 and Group 2 of E. bieneusi. Therefore, we found a higher prevalence of E. bieneusi in sows than in preweaned and weaned pigs. These findings indicate that diarrheic pigs could be a potential reservoir host, which can contaminate the environment and be a source of microsporidia in humans and other animals.

毕氏肠胞虫（Enterocytozoon bieneusi）是一种微孢子虫类真菌病原体，为单细胞寄生虫，可感染人类及包括猪在内的多种动物。目前，针对中国重庆与四川两省腹泻猪的毕氏肠胞虫感染相关研究数据仍较为匮乏。本研究旨在明确腹泻猪毕氏肠胞虫的感染率与基因型分布特征。研究从重庆、四川两省的14家规模化猪场中共采集到514份腹泻猪粪便样本，其中包含326头哺乳仔猪、17头断奶仔猪、65头育肥猪以及106头母猪。为鉴定毕氏肠胞虫基因型，研究人员从样本中提取基因组DNA，采用针对核糖体RNA（rRNA）内转录间隔区的巢式聚合酶链式反应（nested PCR）进行检测，随后开展DNA序列分析。结果显示，毕氏肠胞虫的总体感染率为79.8%（410/514），其中母猪感染率为84.9%（90/106），断奶仔猪感染率为64.7%（11/17）。本研究共检出61种不同的基因型，包括7种已知基因型（E、F、CHG1、Peru8、CAF1、B及BEB17）与54种新型基因型。基于序列相似性分析，这54种新型基因型均为8种已知基因型（SDD2、A、B、HLJD-IV、PigSpEb1、O、JLD-I及BEB17）的变异株。系统发育分析表明，所有检出的基因型均与毕氏肠胞虫第1组和第2组的对应基因型聚为一支。综上，本研究发现母猪的毕氏肠胞虫感染率高于哺乳仔猪与断奶仔猪。本研究结果提示，腹泻猪可作为潜在的储存宿主，其不仅可污染环境，还可成为人类及其他动物感染微孢子虫的传染源。