Genetic heterogeneity of Pneumocystis carinii from rats of several regions and strains

Pneumocystis carinii is a major opportunistic pathogen which has been found in the lungs of a wide variety of mammalian host species, and the fact suggests the possibility of intraspecific variation. Until now, P. carinii from different mammalian species are differentiated as subspecies, and the rats are known to be infected by two subspecies. The present study investigated genetic heterogeneity of P. carinii isolates from two strains of rats in Korea and China by molecular karyotyping, RFLP and sequencing analysis. Karyotypes of P. carinii were grouped into three, two from two strains of rats in Korea and one from rats in China. However RFLP of PCR product of ribosomal and MSG gene of the P. carinii isolates showed same pattern. The sequence homology rates of alpha-tubulin DNA of the P. carinii isolates were 96% in Seoul Wistar rats, 93% in Seoul Sprague-Dawley rats, and 85% in Chinese Sprague-Dawley rats. The present finding confirmed that P. carinii from rats in Korea are grouped into two karyotype strains which are different from that of P. carinii from rats in China. The Chinese isolate shows a little different sequences of alpha-tubulin DNA.