Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that infects most warm-blooded organisms, including humans and causes the infectious disease, Toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma gondii is transmitted to humans through consumption of contaminated raw or undercooked meats. While it is transmitted to grazing animals through consumption of feed and/or water contaminated with T. gondii in cat feces. Toxoplasmosis can cause humans and animals alike to have miscarriage, stillbirth, congenital defects, and other clinical symptoms. Currently, there is no widespread vaccine or treatment for T. gondii in sheep and goats. Therefore, once identified it is necessary that preventative mechanisms are taken. Hence, the objective of this study was to test for T. gondii in lambs found on Delaware State University’s Hickory Hill farm. To identify T. gondii, blood samples were collected from 15 lambs and the white blood cells separated, isolated, and stored at –80 oC for further processing. After isolation, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from the white blood cells of each animal and used to conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a surface antigen one (SAG-1) gene specific forward and reverse primer to amplify the T. gondii gene. After PCR amplification, gel electrophoresis was conducted to fractionate the gene of interest by size and allow for visualization. Data indicated that none of the 15 lambs tested were positive for T. gondii at Hickory Hill Farm as the SAG-1 gene was not present. Under the conditions of this study, it can be concluded that T. gondii parasite is not present on the farm.

Identification of Toxoplasma gondii in Katahdin Lambs

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii in Meat Goats at Hickory Hill Farm Odell Ozbay1 , Mariline Hilaire2 , Kwame Matthews, Ph.D.2 1 Smyrna High School, Smyrna DE 19938 2Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Delaware State University, Dover, DE 19901 Toxoplasma gondii is a parasitic protozoan found in animals and is the cause of the infection known toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is highly transmissible and affects a variety of animals from birds to cattle, sheep, goats and even humans. This disease causes symptoms such as blindness, abortion, mumification, pneumonia, severe body pain, headache, and damage to the nervous system. It is important to detect T. gondii early on so it can be treated or controlled to reduce farm production losses. The goal of this project was to test for Toxoplasma gondii in goats found on Delaware State University’s Hickory Hill farm. To identify T. gondii, whole blood samples were collected individual from 15 goats and the white blood cells separated from red blood cells, isolated and stored at –80 oC. Secondly, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was extracted from the white blood cells of each goat to conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Thirdly, PCR was conducted using a surface antigen one (SAG-1) gene specific forward and reverse primer to amplify the T. gondii gene. Lastly, gel electrophoresis was conducted to separate the gene of interest by size and allow for visualization under UV light. Data indicated that none of the 15 goats tested were positive for T. gondii as the SAG-1 gene was not present. Under the conditions of this study, it can be concluded that PCR was an accurate method for the detection of T. gondii parasites and none of the goats tested were positive for the parasite. Keywords: Toxoplasma gondii, goat, abortion, white blood cell, PCR, SAG-1 gene Acknowledgements: We acknowledge CIBER Center for funding my internship and the Project Director, Dr. Venu Kalavacharla for providing this internship opportunity. Additionally, we acknowledge the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture, Research and Education Partnership Grant for funding the supplies used for this project.

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Identification of Toxoplasma gondii in Katahdin Lambs

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii in meat goats at Hickory Hill Farm

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