title: Co-dispersal of the blood fluke Schistosoma japonicum and Homo sapiens in the Neolithic Age.
abstract: The global spread of human infectious diseases is of considerable public health and biomedical interest. Little is known about the relationship between the distribution of ancient parasites and that of their human hosts. Schistosoma japonicum is one of the three major species of schistosome blood flukes causing the disease of schistosomiasis in humans. The parasite is prevalent in East and Southeast Asia, including the People's Republic of China, the Philippines and Indonesia. We studied the co-expansion of S. japonicum and its human definitive host. Phylogenetic reconstruction based on complete mitochondrial genome sequences showed that S. japonicum radiated from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the mountainous areas of China, Japan and Southeast Asia. In addition, the parasite experienced two population expansions during the Neolithic agriculture era, coinciding with human migration and population growth. The data indicate that the advent of rice planting likely played a key role in the spread of schistosomiasis in Asia. Moreover, the presence of different subspecies of Oncomelania hupensis intermediate host snails in different localities in Asia allowed S. japonicum to survive in new rice-planting areas, and concurrently drove the intraspecies divergence of the parasite.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
authors.forename: Mingbo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Xiang
authors.initials: HX
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Center for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Donald P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: McManus
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Center for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Nong
authors.initials: XN
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.|Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, SIBS, CAS, Shanghai, 200021, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.|National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology of the Chinese Ministry of Health, WHO Collaborating Center for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis, Shanghai, 200025, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D054629:Genome, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D049690:History, Ancient; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D010163:Paleontology; D010802:Phylogeny; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans