Molecular detection of Toxoplasma gondii in chicken hearts from markets and retail stores in Northern Iran

Detection of Toxoplasma gondii in chicken products indicates risk of transmission to consumers. The objective of the current study was to investigate the molecular prevalence of T. gondii in free-ranging and industrial chickens in Guilan province, Northern Iran. A total of 150 chicken heart samples including 75 free-range and 75 industrial chickens were collected from farmers' markets and chicken retailers in Guilan, Northern Iran, between October 2017 and August 2018. Genomic DNA were extracted from samples and examined for evidence of T. gondii using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the B1 gene. The B1-positive samples were further analyzed by nested-PCR for SAG1 gene. Of the 150 samples, T. gondii DNA fragments were detected in 59 (39.3%), including 30 (40%) free-range and 29 (38.7%) industrial chicken. No significant differences of T. gondii DNA detection was observed between the free-range and industrial chicken samples (p = 0.73). Four selected positive samples were used for amplifying and sequencing of the SAG1 gene. The results revealed that all four sequences of SAG1 had 100% similarity with T. gondii sequences previously isolated from an AIDS/HIV patient in Mazandaran province, Northern Iran. Furthermore, the phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that all four sequences were closely related to Type I of T. gondii. However, our Type I identification is preliminary and needs to be confirmed by further multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis. The findings of the present study provide new data about the presence of T. gondii DNA in chicken hearts in the study area. These results confirm that chicken can be used as sentinels for environment contamination; however, further studies are needed to determine the viability of T. gondii in chicken hearts from Iran for risk assessment.