Molecular phylogenetic identification of Fasciola flukes in Nepal

Abstract

Eighty-one Fasciola flukes collected from 8 districts in Nepal were analyzed for their species identification on the basis of their spermatogenic status and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) and for their phylogenetic relation with Fasciola flukes from other Asian countries on the basis of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) gene. Sixty-one flukes (75.3%) were aspermic Fasciola sp., and 20 flukes (24.7%) were identified as Fasciola gigantica. All of the aspermic flukes displayed the Fh/Fg type in ITS1, which was predominant in aspermic Fasciola sp. from China, and most (60 flukes) displayed the Fsp-ND1-N1 haplotype in the nad1, which had an identical nucleotide sequence to the major haplotype (Fg-C2) of the aspermic flukes from China. These results suggest that aspermic Fasciola sp. was introduced into Nepal from China. Furthermore, the results of the diversity indices, neutrality indices, and median-joining network analysis with reference haplotypes from Asian countries suggest that aspermic Fasciola sp. rapidly expanded its distribution. In contrasts, F. gigantica displayed 10 nad1 haplotypes, which showed higher population diversity indices than the haplotypes of aspermic flukes, indicating that the F. gigantica population was clearly distributed in Nepal earlier than the aspermic Fasciola population. Although the F. gigantica haplotypes from Nepal formed a star-like phylogeny consisting of a main founder haplotype (Fg-ND1-N1), together with some F. gigantica haplotypes from Myanmar and Thailand, the Nepal population differed genetically from F. gigantica populations of neighboring countries as each country had distinct founder haplotype(s).