AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Palmer, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Wakefield, A. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Palmer, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Wakefield, A. E.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Palmer, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Wakefield, A. E.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2000, p. 4954-4961, Vol. 66, No. 11
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Population Structure of Rat-Derived Pneumocystis carinii in Danish Wild Rats

Robert J. Palmer,1 Osvald P. Settnes,2 Jens Lodal,3 and Ann E. Wakefield1,*

Molecular Infectious Diseases Group, Department of Paediatrics, Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, United Kingdom,1 and Institute of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen,2 and Danish Pest Infestation Laboratory, Lyngby,3 Denmark

Received 29 November 1999/Accepted 10 August 2000

The rat model of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is frequently used to study human P. carinii infection, but there are many differences between the rat and human infections. We studied naturally acquired P. carinii in wild rats to examine the relevance of the rat model for human infection. P. carinii DNA was detected in 47 of 51 wild rats and in 10 of 12 nonimmunosuppressed laboratory rats. Evidence for three novel formae speciales of rat-derived P. carinii was found, and these were provisionally named Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. rattus-secundi, Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. rattus-tertii, and Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. rattus-quarti. Our data suggest that low-level carriage of P. carinii in wild rats and nonimmunosuppressed laboratory rats is common and that wild rats are frequently coinfected with more than one forma specialis of P. carinii. We also examined the diversity in the internally transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the nuclear rRNA operon of Pneumocystis carinii f. sp. carinii by using samples from wild rats and laboratory rats and spore trap samples. We report a lack of variation in the ITS1 and ITS2 regions that is consistent with an evolutionary bottleneck in the P. carinii f. sp. carinii population. This study shows that human- and rat-derived P. carinii organisms are very different, not only in genetic composition but also in population structure and natural history.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Molecular Infectious Diseases Group, Department of Paediatrics, Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DS, United Kingdom. Phone: 44-1865-222344. Fax: 44-1865-222626. E-mail: wakefield{at}molbiol.ox.ac.uk.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 2000, p. 4954-4961, Vol. 66, No. 11
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2000 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.