title: Morphology and genetic variability within Taenia multiceps in ruminants from Italy.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic variability and population structure of Taenia multiceps, and to correlate morphological features of individual coenuri with haplotypes. A total of 92 animals (86 sheep; 4 goats; 1 cattle; 1 mouflon, Ovis musimon) aged between 6-36 months showing clinical symptoms of cerebral coenurosis were included in this study. T. multiceps coenuri (n=118) sampled from live animals during routine surgery procedures or at post-mortem inspections were examined morphologically and molecularly identified. Morphological features of the 52 coenuri selected for this study (number and size of large and small hooks) were within the range reported in the literature. Fifty-two of the molecularly confirmed T. multiceps coenuri harboured by 47 animals (sheep=41; cattle=1; goats=4; mouflon=1) were used to determine gene genealogies and population genetic indices and were compared to the 3 T. multiceps genetic variants, Tm1-Tm3 previously described from Sardinia, Italy. For the 379 bp cox1 dataset we identified 11 polymorphic sites of which 8 were parsimony informative. A high haplotype diversity (0.664±0.067) was recorded for the cox1 sequences defining 10 haplotypes (TM01-TM10). The comparison of haplotypes generated in this study with published T. multiceps Tm1 variant pointed to the possible existence of a common lineage for T. multiceps. No correlation was detected between the size of the small and large hooks and the cox 1 haplotypes. Polycystic infestation (2-9 coenuri) was recorded in 27.7% of animals (13/47). No statistical correlation between polycystic T. multiceps infection and haplotypes was detected.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy. Electronic address: varcasia@uniss.it.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Varcasia
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna Paola
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Pipia
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dessì
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zidda
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tamponi
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pau
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio di Parassitologia, Ospedale Didattico Veterinario, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2, Sassari, 07100, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scala
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Benghazi, P.O. Box 1308, Benghazi, Libya.
authors.forename: Belgees
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Boufana
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006239:Haplotypes; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000201:enzymology; D012418:Ruminants; D013621:Taenia / Q000235:genetics*; D013622:Taeniasis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: Coenurosis; Genetic variation; Haplotypes; Sheep; Taenia multiceps; cox1