Phylogenetic study of Ostertagia species

Authors

Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran-Iran (Center of Excellent of Ecosystem and Ultrastructural changes of Helminthes)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Ostertagia  species are the main domestic ruminants abomasum worms, which cause parasitic gastritis. Parasitic gastritis is associated with disruption of the endocrine structure of abomasum, and influence the function and pH of abomasums. This can lead to weight loss, reduced milk and wool production with potentially mal-digestion of proteins. These cause the economic loss to animal husbandry industry. So, the national research priority in veterinary parasitology is identification of different native species of Ostertagia in Iran. OBJECTIVES: The main purpose of this study is identification and differentiation of Ostertagia species based on the molecular characterization. METHODS: During carcasses inspection at different abattoirs in Rey, Tehran, Mashhad and Bandar Abbas, 180 adult male worms of Ostertagia species from sheep and goat were collected. Morphological analysis was performed based on the morphometric characteristics of spicules. The ITS1, 5.8s and ITS2 ribosomal DNA was ampilified from individual worms by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and then purified PCR product were sequenced and analyzed by Blast tool. RESULTS: 946 bp PCR products for all sequenced samples were compared with the released sequences of Ostertagia isolates available from GenBank and showed 2-3% differences and 97-98% similarity. CONCLUSIONS: The three species included in the present study are different in terms of molecular property (with 2-3% difference) and it is necessary to determine transmittance pattern and host affinity rules from each one to be used by program managers and evaluators for Prevention and Control programs.

Keywords


Dallas, J.F., Irvine, R.J., Halvorsen, O. (2001) DNA evidence that Marshallagia marshalli Ransom, 1907 and M.occidentalis Ransom, 1907 (Nematoda: Ostertagiinae) from Svalbard reindeer are conspecific. Systema Parasitol. 50: 101-103.
Dallas, J.F., Irvine, R.J., Halvorsen, O. (2000) DNA evidence that Ostertagia gruehhneri and Ostertsgia arctica (Nematoda: Ostertaginae) in reindeer from Norway and Svalbard are conspecific. Int J Parasitol. 30: 655-658.
Dallas, J.F., Irvine, R.J., Halvorsen, O., Albon, S.D. (2000) Identification by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of Marshallagia marshalli and Ostertagia gruehneri from Svalbard reindeer. Int J Parasitol. 30: 863-866.
Daskalov, P. (1974) On the reproductive relationships between Ostertagia circumcincta, Teladorsagia davtiani and O.trifurcate (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae). Izvestiya na Tsentralnata Khelminthologichna laborator, 17: 59-72. (In Russian).
Drozdz, J. (1995) Polymorphism in the ostetagiinae (Lopez-Neyra, 1947) and comments on the systematic of these nematodes. Systema Parasitol. 32: 91-99.
Eslami, A., Nabavi, L. (1976) Species of gastrointestinal parasites of sheep from Iran. Bull. Soc Path Exo. 69: 192-195.
Gasser, R.B., Newton, S.E. (2000) Genomic and genetic research on bursate nematodes. significance, implicatins and prospects. Int J Parasitol. 30: 509-534.
Heise, M., Epe, C., Schnieder, T. (1999) Differences in the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of eight species of gastrointestinal nematodes of ruminants. J Parasitol. 85: 431-435.
Hoste, H., Chiton, N.B., Gasser, R.B., Beveridge, I. (1995) Differences in the second internal transcribed spacer (ribosomal DNA) between five species of Trichstrongylus (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae). Int J Parasitol. 25:75-80.
Kumar, S., Stecher, G., Tamura, K. (2016) MEGA7: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Mol Biol Evol. 33: 1870-1874.
Lichtenfels, J.R., Hoberg, E.P., Zarlenga, D.S. (1997) Systematics of gastrointestinal nematodes of domestic ruminants: advances between 1992 and 1995 and proposals for future research. Vet Parasitol. 72: 225-238.
Newton, L.A., Chilton, N.B., Beveridge, I., Gasser, R.B. (1998) Genetic evidence indicating that Cooperia surnabada and Cooperia oncophora are one species. Int J Parasitol. 28: 331-336.
Stevenson, L.A., Gasser, R.B., Chilton, N.B. (1995) The ITS2 rDNA of Teladorsagia circumcincta, T. trifurcate and T.davtiani (Nematoda: Trichostrongylidae) indicates that these yaxa are one species. Int J Parasitol. 26: 1123-1126.
Zarlenga, D.S., Hoberg, E.P., Sreingfellow, F., Lichtenfels, J.R. (2001) Comparisons of tow polymorphic species of Ostertagia and phylogenetic relationships within the Ostertaginae (Nematoda: Trichosreongyloidea) inferred from rDNA repeat and mitochondrial DNA sequences. J Parasitol. 84: 806-812.