Tick-associated Trypanosoma species (Apicomplexa: Kinetoplastida) from cattle ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in Peninsular Malaysia

A Trypanosoma screening was conducted on 130 pools comprising 1,241 ticks, collected from 674 selected farm ruminants in Peninsular Malaysia. Of these, nine pools were tested positive for Trypanosoma. Subsequent BLAST searches revealed that the 18S rRNA gene sequences were closely related to Trypanosoma rhipicephalis isolate Chaco CB, with percentage similarities ranging from 95.56 % to 99.84 %. Phylogenetic analysis showed that three of the nine sequences formed a clade with Trypanosoma rhipicephalis. The remaining six Trypanosoma sequences formed a distinct clade, separate from T. rhipicephalis and other Trypanosoma species, with genetic distances of 4.34 % and 4.33-4.58 %, respectively. This study marks the first report of tick-associated Trypanosoma in Malaysia and underscores significant research gaps regarding trypanosome interactions with tick hosts in the region.