The role of protozoa in the emergence of diseases

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14850
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Veterinary medical science
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Nakao Ryo 北海道大学, 獣医学研究院, 准教授 (50633955)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): ABE TAKASHI 新潟大学, 自然科学系, 准教授 (30390628)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 原生生物 / 細菌叢 / 真核生物叢 / タイ / ペプチド核酸 / PNA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project was to understand the role of protozoa in the emergence of diseases by analyzing microbial diversity harbored by protozoan population in the environment. Water and soil samples were collected in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand and subjected to high-throughput sequencing analysis. More than 200 different bacterial genera were obtained in each sample. However, there was no pathogenic bacterial lineage detected in the analyzed samples. In the eukaryote diversity analysis based on 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) amplicons, we found that most of the reads obtained were from algae but not from protozoa. In order to reduce the reads from specific organisms in 18S rRNA PCR, we developed a blocking PCR method using a PNA (Peptide Nucleic Acids) specifically designed for target organisms. This method can be applied to future studies to analyze protozoan diversity in the samples from disease endemic areas.

Free Research Field

感染症