국내에서 분리된 Acanthamoeba spp.의 계통분류학적 검토

Abstract

Acanthamoeba is widespread in the soil, streams, lakes and atmosphere, and is known as a causative agent of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and amoebic keratitis. The development of molecular biology enables us to make a taxonomic analysis at the molecular level. Especially, an analysis technique using a restriction fragments length polymorphism (RFLP) of 18S srDNA defines easily the genetic relationships between amoebas. This study was carried out to compare A. culbertsoni, A. polyphaga, A. royreba and two Korean isolates (Acanthamoeba sp. YM4 and KA/LS5) using RFLP of 18S srDNA. In the results of RFLP analysis of 18S srDNA, we found that Acanthamoeba sp. YM-4, A. culbertsoni and A. royreba were more closer than the other five species. We also found that Acanthamoeba KA/LS 5 is more closer to A. polyphaga than A. culbertsoni, because the genetic distance between Acanthamoeba KA/LS5 and A. culbertsoni is marked at 0.278, while Acanthamoeba KA/LS5 and A. polyphaga is marked at 0.085. Finally, it is suppossed that Acanthamoeba sp. YM-4 is a close species with A. culbertsoni and A. royreba, and Acanthamoeba spp. KA/LS5 is a similar species with A. polyphaga.