title: Mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA evidence supports the existence of a new Trichuris species in the endangered françois' leaf-monkey.
abstract: The whipworm of humans, Trichuris trichiura, is responsible for a neglected tropical disease (NTD) of major importance in tropical and subtropical countries of the world. Whipworms also infect animal hosts, including pigs, dogs and non-human primates, cause clinical disease (trichuriasis) similar to that of humans. Although Trichuris species are usually considered to be host specific, it is not clear whether non-human primates are infected with T. trichiura or other species. In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome as well as the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of Trichuris from the François' leaf-monkey (langur), and compared them with homologous sequences from human- and pig-derived Trichuris. In addition, sequence comparison of a conserved mt ribosomal gene among multiple individual whipworms revealed substantial nucleotide differences among these three host species but limited sequence variation within each of them. The molecular data indicate that the monkey-derived whipworm is a separate species from that of humans. Future work should focus on detailed population genetic and morphological studies (by electron microscopy) of whipworms from various non-humans primates and humans.
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, PR China.
authors.forename: Guo-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Robin B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Gasser
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nejsum
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hui-Qun
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D016673:Colobinae / Q000469:parasitology*; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D056727:Endangered Species; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D058507:Host Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008992:Monkey Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000469:parasitology; D013552:Swine / Q000469:parasitology; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D014257:Trichuriasis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D014258:Trichuris / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018509:DNA, Helminth; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal