title: Clear genetic distinctiveness between human- and pig-derived Trichuris based on analyses of mitochondrial datasets.
abstract: The whipworm, Trichuris trichiura, causes trichuriasis in ∼600 million people worldwide, mainly in developing countries. Whipworms also infect other animal hosts, including pigs (T. suis), dogs (T. vulpis) and non-human primates, and cause disease in these hosts, which is similar to trichuriasis of humans. Although Trichuris species are considered to be host specific, there has been considerable controversy, over the years, as to whether T. trichiura and T. suis are the same or distinct species. Here, we characterised the entire mitochondrial genomes of human-derived Trichuris and pig-derived Trichuris, compared them and then tested the hypothesis that the parasites from these two host species are genetically distinct in a phylogenetic analysis of the sequence data. Taken together, the findings support the proposal that T. trichiura and T. suis are separate species, consistent with previous data for nuclear ribosomal DNA. Using molecular analytical tools, employing genetic markers defined herein, future work should conduct large-scale studies to establish whether T. trichiura is found in pigs and T. suis in humans in endemic regions.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guo-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Robin B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Gasser
authors.forename: Ang
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nejsum
authors.forename: Lifei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Rui-Qing
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ming-Wei
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Min-Jun
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013552:Swine; D014257:Trichuriasis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D014258:Trichuris / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial