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Nuclear and Mitochondrial Data on Trichuris from Macaca fuscata Support Evidence of Host Specificity - PubMed

  • ️Wed Jan 01 2020

Nuclear and Mitochondrial Data on Trichuris from Macaca fuscata Support Evidence of Host Specificity

Serena Cavallero et al. Life (Basel). 2020.

Abstract

Whipworms are parasitic intestinal nematodes infecting mammals, and traditionally humans and other primates that have so far been considered infected by Trichuris trichiura. Recent molecular studies report a more complex scenario suggesting the presence of a species complex with several Trichuris taxa specifically infecting only one primate species as well as taxa able to infect a range of primate species. The systematics of the group is important for taxonomic inference, to estimate the relative zoonotic potential, and for conservation purposes. In fact, captive animals living in zoological gardens are usually infected by persistent monoxenous intestinal parasites. Here, two Japanese macaques living in the Bioparco Zoological Garden of Rome were found infected by Trichuris sp. Nematodes were characterized at the molecular level using nuclear (btub and 18S) and mitochondrial (16S and cytb) markers and then compared to Trichuris collected previously in the same location, and to other Trichuris infecting primates. Evidences from mitochondrial and nuclear markers allowed for the identification of Trichuris sp. specific to Macaca fuscata. Results obtained here also described a uniform taxonomic unit of Trichuris, separated but closely related to Trichuris trichiura, thus, emphasizing its zoonotic potential for workers and visitors.

Keywords: Macaca fuscata; Trichuris; captive animals; zoonotic risk.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1

Maximum Likelihood (ML) tree elaborated from the Dataset_16S showing the evolutionary relationships of Trichuris spp. included (see Table 1). Bootstrap values are reported at nodes and affiliation to clades is indicated on the right.

Figure 2
Figure 2

ML tree elaborated from the Dataset_cytb showing the evolutionary relationships of Trichuris spp. included (see Table 1). Bootstrap values are reported at nodes.

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