Abstract
BackgroundRumen flukes parasitize the rumen and reticulum of ruminants, causing paramphistomiasis. Over the years, there has been considerable debate as to whether Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi are the same or distant species.MethodsIn the present study, the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of P. leydeni was amplified using PCR-based sequencing and compared with that of P. cervi. The second internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of P. leydeni specimens (n = 6) and P. cervi specimens (n = 8) was amplified and then sequenced. Phylogenetic relationship of the concatenated amino acid sequence data for 12 protein-coding genes of the two rumen flukes and selected members of Trematoda was evaluated using Bayesian inference (BI).ResultsThe complete mt genome of P. leydeni was 14,050 bp in size. Significant nucleotide difference between the P. leydeni mt genome and that of P. cervi (14.7%) was observed. For genetic divergence in ITS-2, sequence difference between P. leydeni and P. cervi was 3.1%, while no sequence variation was detected within each of them. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that P. leydeni and P. cervi are closely-related but distinct rumen flukes.ConclusionsResults of the present study support the proposal that P. leydeni and P. cervi represent two distinct valid species. The mt genome sequences of P. leydeni provide plentiful resources of mitochondrial markers, which can be combined with nuclear markers, for further comparative studies of the biology of P. leydeni and its congeners from China and other countries.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-015-0823-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Rumen flukes parasitize the rumen and reticulum of ruminants, causing paramphistomiasis
Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi are common rumen flukes in many countries [1,2], Ma et al Parasites & Vectors (2015) 8:201 in Argentina [3]
The amphistome species are morphologically very similar [2], reports have documented that P. leydeni and P. cervi are morphologically distinct species based on morphological features of the adult [13,14]
Summary
Rumen flukes parasitize the rumen and reticulum of ruminants, causing paramphistomiasis. There has been considerable debate as to whether Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi are the same or distant species. Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi are common rumen flukes in many countries [1,2], Ma et al Parasites & Vectors (2015) 8:201 in Argentina [3]. Various host animals are often infected concurrently with P. leydeni, P. cervi and other paramphistomums globally, and the host or geographical preference of the two rumen flukes has not been documented. In spite of the economic loss and morbidity of paramphistomiasis, over the years, there has been a significant controversy as to whether P. leydeni and P. cervi represent the same or distinct fluke species. P. leydeni, as well as Paramphistomum hiberniae, Paramphistomum scotiae and Cotylophoron skriabini, was regarded as established synonym of P. cervi [5,14,15,16,17]
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