Considerable Genetic Diversity of Trichomonas vaginalis Clinical Isolates in a Targeted Population in South of Iran

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to characterize genetically and to compare the most frequently occurring strains of Trichomonas vaginalis isolated from southern Iran. METHODS: Totally, 150 vaginal swab and urine specimens were collected from symptomatic and asymptomatic women from May 2012 to Jun 2013. This study implemented a sensitive and reliable PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) typing method on the actin gene. Moreover, one representative sample of each identified genotype was subjected to sequencing. RESULTS: Twenty-four T. vaginalis isolates were positive and 6 distinct electrophoretic patterns (H, E, G, I, M, N) were identified. Genotypes H and I were found to be more prevalent (50 and 37.5%) in Kerman and Shiraz, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis showed that two isolates were located as a separated clade with the other T. vaginalis isolates. CONCLUSION: The obtained findings showed a considerable genetic polymorphism of clinical isolates from the population studied. More studies may be warranted in future as to unveiling any possible links between a given genotype/cluster and pathogenic behavior of T. vaginalis.