Characterization of Echinococcus granulosus species or subspecies at the level of nucleic acid contents.

The present study is an attempt to clarify the nature of the differences in the subspecies of Echinococcus granulosus in Egypt by comparing the contents of the nucleic acid in the cysts obtained from livers and lungs of camel, pig and sheep, intermediate hosts, as well as in the adult worms obtained by experimentally feeding of these cysts to puppies. The biochemical study revealed that the mean values of DNA and RNA in fertile camel lung-cysts as well as in its adult worms were significantly lower (p less than 0.01) than those of pigs. On the other hand, it was found that the contents of DNA in adult worms were 4 times more than in protoscolices, in both camel and pig strain, a result which may suggest a duplication of the genomic contents of the adult worm.