title: Characterization of the complete mitochondrial genomes of two whipworms Trichuris ovis and Trichuris discolor (Nematoda: Trichuridae).
abstract: For many years, whipworms (Trichuris spp.) have been described with a relatively narrow range of both morphological and biometrical features. Moreover, there has been insufficient discrimination between congeners (or closely related species). In the present study, we determined the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of two whipworms Trichuris ovis and Trichuris discolor, compared them and then tested the hypothesis that T. ovis and T. discolor are distinct species by phylogenetic analyses using Bayesian inference, maximum likelihood and maximum parsimony) based on the deduced amino acid sequences of the mt protein-coding genes. The complete mt genomes of T. ovis and T. discolor were 13,946 bp and 13,904 bp in size, respectively. Both mt genomes are circular, and consist of 37 genes, including 13 genes coding for proteins, 2 genes for rRNA, and 22 genes for tRNA. The gene content and arrangement are identical to that of human and pig whipworms Trichuris trichiura and Trichuris suis. Taken together, these analyses showed genetic distinctiveness and strongly supported the recent proposal that T. ovis and T. discolor are distinct species using nuclear ribosomal DNA and a portion of the mtDNA sequence dataset. The availability of the complete mtDNA sequences of T. ovis and T. discolor provides novel genetic markers for studying the population genetics, diagnostics and molecular epidemiology of T. ovis and T. discolor.
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 730046, PR China.
authors.forename: Guo-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Min-Jun
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Dong-Hui
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yong-Gang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Jia-Yuan
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui-Qun
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Rui-Qing
authors.initials: RQ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000866:Antelopes / Q000469:parasitology; D002417:Cattle; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014257:Trichuriasis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000662:veterinary; D014258:Trichuris / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D005819:Genetic Markers