Abstract
Oxyurid nematodes (Syphacia spp.) from bank (Myodes glareolus) and field/common (Microtus spp.) voles, from disparate geographical sites in the British Isles, were examined morphologically and genetically. The genetic signatures of 118 new isolates are provided, based primarily on the rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) region and for representative isolates also on the small subunit 18S rDNA region and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox-1) gene locus. Genetic data on worms recovered from Microtus spp. from the European mainland and from other rodent genera from the Palaearctic, North America and West Africa are also included. We test historical hypotheses indicating that S. nigeriana is a generalist species, infecting a range of different rodent genera. Our results establish that S. nigeriana is a parasite of both bank and field voles in the British Isles. An identical genotype was also recorded from Hubert's multimammate mouse (Mastomys huberti) from Senegal, but Mastomys spp. from West Africa were additionally parasitized by a related, although genetically distinct Syphacia species. We found no evidence for S. petrusewiczi in voles from the British Isles but isolates from Russia and North America were genetically distinct and formed their own separate deep branch in maximum likelihood molecular phylogenetic trees.
Highlights
Nematodes of the genus Syphacia Seurat, 1916 (Oxyuridae Cobbold, 1864: Syphaciinae Railliet, 1916) are among the most common members of the helminth communities in wild rodents worldwide (Roman, 1951), but perhaps best known are the two species that parasitize laboratory rodents and their free-living conspecifics: S. obvelata (Rudolphi, 1802) in house mice (Mus spp.) and S. muris Yamaguti, 1935 in rats (Rattus spp.)
We examine morphologically Syphacia species isolated from both M. glareolus and Microtus spp. voles, from several disparate sites in the British Isles, and we provide the genetic signature of each isolate that we encountered, based primarily on the rDNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) region and for representative isolates on the 18S rDNA (SSU) region and the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene locus
The maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree for rDNA (ITS-1-5.8S-ITS-2), illustrated in Fig. 2A, shows that Syphacia isolates from rodents trapped throughout the British Isles had mostly identical genetic sequences, irrespective of whether the worms were isolated from field, bank or common voles
Summary
Nematodes of the genus Syphacia Seurat, 1916 (Oxyuridae Cobbold, 1864: Syphaciinae Railliet, 1916) are among the most common members of the helminth communities in wild rodents worldwide (Roman, 1951), but perhaps best known are the two species that parasitize laboratory rodents and their free-living conspecifics: S. obvelata (Rudolphi, 1802) in house mice (Mus spp.) and S. muris Yamaguti, 1935 in rats (Rattus spp.). In addition to the seven listed here, four other species of Syphacia have been recorded from European rodents, namely S. arvicolae Sharpilo, 1973, S. vandenbrueli Bernard, 1966, S. agraria, Sharpilo, 1973 and the fourth S. baylisi, which is a synonym of S. muris (see Tenora and Mészáros, 1975). The hosts of S. vandenbrueli and S. arvicolae (the Eurasian harvest mouse, Micromys minutus and the European water vole, Arvicola spp., respectively), are endemic in the British Isles but to the best of our knowledge their Syphacia spp. have never been recorded locally, it is worth noting that Tenora et al (1979a) recommended that this latter species should be synonymized with S. nigeriana. The striped field mouse, Apodemus agrarius (host of S. agraria) does not exist in the wild in the British Isles
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