Chromosome number, genome size and polymorphism of European and South African isolates of large Babesia parasites that infect dogs.

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of intact chromosomes from 2 isolates of each of the 2 most pathogenic species of large Babesia parasites that infect dogs, i.e. Babesia canis (European species) and B. rossi (South African species), revealed 5 chromosomes in their haploid genome. The size of chromosomes 1-5 was found to be different in the 2 species, ranging from 0.8 to 6.0 Mbp. The genome size was estimated to be approximately 14.5 Mbp for B. canis and 16 Mbp for B. rossi, respectively. Within each species, the size of chromosomes 1-3 of B. canis and 1-2 of B. rossi was conserved between the 2 isolates, whereas the size of chromosomes 4-5 of B. canis and 3-5 of B. rossi was variable. Chromosomes 1-5 hybridized with a 28-mer telomeric oligonucleotide probe derived from Plasmodium berghei. When NotI-digested chromosomes of the 4 isolates were hybridized with the telomeric probe a maximum of 10 fragments was revealed. Moreover, hybridization of this telomeric probe to a Southern blot of genomic DNA from the 4 isolates, digested with a series of restriction enzymes, revealed a species-specific restriction map. Hybridization of intact or NotI-digested chromosomes of both species with 2 sets of 3 cDNA-antigen probes derived from each species, revealed no cross-hybridization between these B. canis and B. rossi genes.