Genetic Diversity of Microneme Protein 2 and Surface Antigen 1 of.

Abstract

Avian coccidiosis is a disease caused by members of the genus. Huge economic losses incurred by the global poultry industry due to coccidiosis have increased the need for cost-effective and easily available recombinant vaccines. Microneme protein 2 (MIC2) and surface antigen 1 (SAG1) ofhave been recognised as potential vaccine candidates. However, the genetic diversity of the antigens in field isolates, which affects vaccine efficacy, has yet to be largely investigated. Here, we analysed genetic diversity and natural selection ofandin Koreanisolates. Both genes exhibited low levels of genetic diversity in Korean isolates. However, the two genes showed different patterns of nucleotide diversity and amino acid polymorphism involving theisolates obtained from different countries including China and India. These results underscore the need to investigate the genetic diversity of the vaccine candidate antigens and warrant monitoring of genetic heterogeneity and evolutionary aspects of the genes in larger numbers offield isolates from different geographical areas to design effective coccidial vaccines.