title: Temporal genetic diversity of Schistosoma japonicum in two endemic sites in China revealed by microsatellite markers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases. The causative agent of schistosomiasis in China, Schistosoma japonicum, has long been a major public health problem. An understanding of fundamental evolutionary and genetic processes in this species has major implications for its control and elimination. Intensive control efforts have greatly reduced the incidence of schistosomiasis in China, but little is known about the genetic consequences of these efforts.
  
  
  METHODS
  To investigate this, we sampled twice (years 2003 and 2011) from two endemic regions where populations of S. japonicum had persisted despite control efforts and genotyped these samples using ten microsatellite markers. Our main hypothesis was that parasite genetic diversity would be greatly reduced across this time period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no apparent reduction in allelic diversity, and a non-significant reduction in clonal diversity in these parasite populations between 2003 and 2011. We did, however, detect temporal genetic differentiation among the samples. Such a significant temporal genetic variation of S. japonicum populations has not been reported before.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 2005 Songhu Road, Shanghai, 200438, China. yinm@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Mingbo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 2005 Songhu Road, Shanghai, 200438, China. wuyan2341199@163.com.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia. david.blair@jcu.edu.au.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 207 Ruijin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025, China. xubin677@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 207 Ruijin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025, China. zfeng0909@163.com.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 2005 Songhu Road, Shanghai, 200438, China. huw@fudan.edu.cn.|National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 207 Ruijin Er Road, Shanghai, 200025, China. huw@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D011634:Public Health; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012554:Schistosomiasis japonica / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis