Taxonomic and geographic bias in the genetic study of helminth parasites

Abstract

The use of genetic information is now fundamental in parasite taxonomy and systematics, for resolving parasite phylogenies, discovering cryptic species, and elucidating patterns of gene flow among parasite populations. The accumulation of available gene sequences per geographical area or per parasite taxonomic group is likely proportional to species richness, but not without some biases. Certain areas and certain taxonomic groups receive more research effort than others, possibly causing a deficit in the relative number of parasite species being characterized genetically in some areas or taxonomic groups. Here, we use data on the number of parasite records per country or helminth family from the London Natural History Museum host-parasite database, and matching data on the number of gene sequences available from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank database, to determine how available gene sequences scale with species richness across countries or parasitic helminth families. Our quantitative analysis identified countries/regions of the world and helminth families that have received the most effort in genetic research. More importantly, it allowed us to generate lists (based on residuals from the statistical model) of the 20 countries/regions and the 20 helminth families with the largest deficit in available gene sequences relative to their helminth species richness. We propose these lists as useful guides toward future allocation of effort to maximise advances in parasite biodiscovery, systematics and population structure.