Cloning and nucleotide sequencing of the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA for three species of Eimeria from chickens in Taiwan

Coccidiosis of chickens caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Eimeria (Coccidia: Eimeriidae) is an enteric disease that results in great economic losses throughout the world, including Taiwan. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers specific for the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of ribosomal DNA (rDNA), three species of Eimeria, E. tenella, E. maxima, and E. acervulina have been successfully characterised from chickens in Taiwan. The sizes of PCR products from various isolates representing these three species were between 370 and 580 base pairs (bp). After cloning and sequencing of the PCR products, high nucleotide sequence identity (96.8–100%) was observed within a species. In addition, ITS-2 nucleotide sequences for E. tenella had higher homology (98.5–99.3%) than E. maxima (81.6–96.5%) when compared with appropriate sequences deposited in GenBank. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a 412-bp ITS-2 sequence for E. acervulina from chickens.