ANáLISIS DE CEPAS DE Anaplasma marginale UTILIZANDO LAS SECUENCIAS REPETIDAS DE LA PROTEíNA PRINCIPAL DE SUPERFICIE LA (MSP1a)

anaplasma marginale is a pathogen for cattle, causing severe economic losses in tropical and subtropical regions. the major surface proteins of initial bodies are involved in pathogen-host and tick-pathogen interactions and have been used as markers for the genetic characterization of anaplasma marginale strains and for phylogenetic studies. msp1a protein varies between strains of different geographical regions in the number and sequence of tandem repeated sequences in the amino-terminal region. in this study, 24 anaplasma marginale strains were characterized using the sequence described for msp1a protein. these results support the heterogeneity of anaplasma marginale strains in endemic regions and that the phylogenetic analysis of tandem repeated sequences of this msp1a protein does not result in clusters related to the geographical origin of strains, but helps to understand the genetic diversity and evolution of anaplasma marginale.