Gene flow for Echinococcus granulosus metapopulations determined by mitochondrial sequences: A reliable approach for reflecting epidemiological drift of parasite among neighboring countries

Abstract

In genetic diversity and population structure of Echinococcus granulosus, the gene flow can illustrate how the Echinococcus isolates have epidemiologically drifted among endemic neighboring countries. 51 isolates of hydatid cysts were collected from human, dog, cattle and sheep in northwest Iran, where placed co-border with Turkey. DNA samples were extracted, amplified and subjected to sequence analysis of NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) and cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) genes. As well, sequences of Echinococcus at east to the southeast regions of Turkey were retrieved from GenBank database for the cox1 gene. The confirmed isolates were grouped as G1 (n = 74) and G3 (n = 6) genotypes. 31 unique haplotypes were identified inferred by the analyzed sequences of cox1 among two distinct populations. A parsimonious network of the sequence haplotypes displayed star-like features in the overall population containing TUR1, IR15 and IR22 as the most common haplotypes. According to AMOVA test, the high value of haplotype diversity (0.94758–0.98901) of E. granulosus was reflected the total genetic variability within populations while nucleotide diversity was low (0.00727–0.01046) in Iranian and Turkish metapopulations. Neutrality indices of the cox1 were shown negative values (−15.078 to −10.057) in Echinococcus populations which indicating a significant divergence from neutrality. A pairwise fixation index (Fst) as a degree of gene flow was partially high value for all populations (0.151). The statistically Fst value indicates that E. granulosus sensu stricto (G1-G3) are genetically moderate differentiated among Iranian and Turkish isolates. The occurrence of TUR1 and IR15 elucidate that there is possibly the dawn of domestication due to transfer of alleles between populations through the diffusion of stock raising or anthropogenic movements. To evaluate the hypothetical evolutionary scenario, further exploration is necessitated to analyze isolates from various host species in rest Middle East countries.