title: Gnathostoma spinigerum Mitochondrial Genome Sequence: a Novel Gene Arrangement and its Phylogenetic Position within the Class Chromadorea.
abstract: Human gnathostomiasis is an emerging food-borne parasitic disease caused by nematodes in the genus Gnathostoma. In spite of their significance as pathogens, these parasites remain poorly understood at the molecular level. In the present study, we sequenced the mitochondrial (mt) genome of G. spinigerum, which infects a range of definitive hosts including dogs, cats, tigers, leopards and humans. The mt genome of G. spinigerum is 14,079 bp in size and shows substantial changes in gene order compared to other nematodes studied to date. Phylogenetic analyses of mt genome sequences by Bayesian inference (BI) revealed that the infraorder Gnathostomatomorpha (represented by G. spinigerum) is closely related to the infraorder Ascaridomorpha. G. spinigerum is the first species from the infraorder Gnathostomatomorpha for which a complete mt genome has been sequenced. The new data will help understand the evolution, population genetics and systematics of this medically important group of parasites.
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, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Guo-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Genecology Research Centre, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland 4558, Australia.
authors.forename: Renfu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: 1] 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, P. R. China [2] Zhongshan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, Zhongshan, Guangdong Province 528403, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xian-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Experiment Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province 510080, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wen-Wen
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Li
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, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xing-Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D049751:Genome, Helminth; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006039:Gnathostoma / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA