title: Genetic variability of Eucoleus aerophilus from domestic and wild hosts.
abstract: Eucoleus aerophilus (syn. Capillaria aerophila) is a trichuroid nematode affecting domestic and wild carnivores and, sometimes, humans. This parasite has a worldwide distribution and may cause significant clinical disease in pet animals. The present paper investigates the sequence variation in partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene of E. aerophilus isolates from pets and wild animals from different countries. Forty-four egg pools of E. aerophilus were collected from dogs, cats and foxes from Italy, while seventeen adult stages of E. aerophilus were obtained from red foxes and beech martens from Portugal, Romania, Serbia and UK. Fifteen different haplotypes were characterized and five were shared between pets in Italy and wildlife from Europe. The remaining haplotypes were either confined only in hosts or countries, or in a given host from a country. The phylogenetic analysis showed that all haplotypes clustered as a monophyletic group with a strong nodal support, indicating that all sequence types represented E. aerophilus. The results here presented have implications for a better understanding of the epidemiology, phylo-geography and clinical impact of E. aerophilus. In particular, the geographic distribution of E. aerophilus haplotypes in different host species and geographic regions, and their variation in terms of pathogenic impact and zoonotic role, warrant further investigations.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Cesare
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano (BA), Italy.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Otranto
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Valenzano (BA), Italy.
authors.forename: Maria S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Latrofa
authors.affiliation: Department of Biopathological and Hygiene of Animal and Food Productions, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Veronesi
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perrucci
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia.
authors.forename: Dusan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lalosevic
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Călin M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gherman
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy. Electronic address: dtraversa@unite.it.
authors.forename: Donato
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Traversa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002415:Cats; D018509:DNA, Helminth / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004285:Dogs; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009348:Nematoda / Q000235:genetics*; D057805:Pets / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D018509:DNA, Helminth; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: Epidemiology; Eucoleus aerophilus; Haplotypes; Phylogenesis; cox1