Discovery of a new Hepatozoon species namely Hepatozoon viperoi sp. nov. in nose-horned vipers in Turkiye.

ABSTRACT: Although Hepatozoon spp. remains the most prevalent intracellular protozoa infecting snakes, it was reported only in a few snake species of the Colubridae family in Türkiye. Moreover, studies on these hemoparasites are not available in venomous nose-horned vipers from Türkiye. In this study, we investigated Hepatozoon spp. in three individual Vipera ammodytes using morphological and molecular methods. Our results were positive for intraerythrocytic Hepatozoon spp. gamonts in all three snakes, exhibiting low parasitemia. The microscopic findings were further confirmed through molecular data. A genus-specific PCR assay targeting the 18S rRNA gene region of Hepatozoon spp., was performed using HemoF/HemoR and Hep300/Hep900 primers. The obtained sequences were concatenated and used in phylogen

SUBMITTER: Ceylan O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10272196 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature