title: SNPs in Entire Mitochondrial Genome Sequences (≈15.4 kb) and cox1 Sequences (≈486 bp) Resolve Body and Head Lice From Doubly Infected People From Ethiopia, China, Nepal, and Iran But Not France.
abstract: Some people host lice on the clothing as well as the head. Whether body lice and head lice are distinct species or merely variants of the same species remains contentious. We sought to ascertain the extent to which lice from these different habitats might interbreed on doubly infected people by comparing their entire mitochondrial genome sequences. Toward this end, we analyzed two sets of published genetic data from double-infections of body lice and head lice: 1) entire mitochondrial coding regions (≈15.4 kb) from body lice and head lice from seven doubly infected people from Ethiopia, China, and France; and 2) part of the cox1 gene (≈486 bp) from body lice and head lice from a further nine doubly infected people from China, Nepal, and Iran. These mitochondrial data, from 65 lice, revealed extraordinary variation in the number of single nucleotide polymorphisms between the individual body lice and individual head lice of double-infections: from 1.096 kb of 15.4 kb (7.6%) to 2 bps of 15.4 kb (0.01%). We detected coinfections of lice of Clades A and C on the scalp hair of three of the eight people from Nepal: one person of the two people from Kathmandu and two of the six people from Pokhara. Lice of Clades A and B coinfected the scalp hair of one person from Atherton, Far North Queensland, Australia. These findings argue for additional large-scale studies of the body lice and head lice of double-infected people.
authors: Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. These author contributed equally.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Xiong
authors: Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. These author contributed equally.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Campelo
authors: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UMR CNRS 6236 IRD 198, Faculté de Médecine, Méditerranée Infection, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Boutellis
authors: Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UMR CNRS 6236 IRD 198, Faculté de Médecine, Méditerranée Infection, Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Raoult
authors: University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Alem
authors: University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Ali
authors: University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Gondar, Ethiopia.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Bilcha
authors: Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Shao
authors: IdentifyUS LLC, 320 Needham Street, Suite 200, Newton, MA.
authors: R J
authors: RJ
authors: Pollack
authors: Department of Parasitology, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia. s.barker@uq.edu.au.
authors: S C
authors: SC
authors: Barker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia; D005002:Ethiopia; D005602:France; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial; D006801:Humans; D010374:Pediculus / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
keywords: Pediculus capitis; Pediculus humanus; mitochondrial coding region; single nucleotide polymorphism