Isolation, morphologic, serologic and molecular identification of Acanthamoeba T4 genotype from the liver of a Temminck's tragopan (Tragopan temminckii)

Members of the genus Acanthamoeba are usually free-living amoebae that are found in a variety of ecological niches including soil, fresh and brackish water, dust in the air, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning filters, swimming pools and hot tubs. Occasionally they are also known to cause central nervous system infections in humans and animals. We isolated into culture an amoeba from the liver of a Temminck's tragopan (horned pheasant) (Tragopan temminckii) that died of amoebic infection. We identified the infecting amoeba as Acanthamoeba sp. based on culture characteristics, cyst morphology and immunofluorescence assays. Additionally, we identified the amoeba as Acanthamoeba, genotype T4, by sequencing a diagnostic region of the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA gene.