Cryptosporidium fayeri: diversity within the GP60 locus of isolates from different marsupial hosts

The highly polymorphic 60 kDa glycoprotein (GP60) of Cryptosporidium is an important tool for investigating the epidemiology of this parasite. Characterization of the GP60 gene has only been performed for 3 of the 20 known Cryptosporidium species, and has already enabled sub-typing and source tracking of species with human significance. We have characterised a fourth species, Cryptosporidium fayeri, at the GP60 locus using isolates (n = 26) from different marsupial hosts to assess the diversity of GP60 within this species. The analysis demonstrated that C. fayeri isolates could be assigned to 6 subtypes which were associated with host species and locality. The intra-species diversity for the host-adapted C. fayeri was less than the diversity for human pathogenic species suggesting that the GP60 locus is under less selective pressure in these than host-adapted species.