Evidence of population structuring following population genetic analyses of <i>Fasciola hepatica</i> from Argentina



Beesley, Nicola J ORCID: 0000-0003-0557-1833, Attree, Elizabeth, Vazquez-Prieto, Severo, Vilas, Roman, Paniagua, Esperanza, Ubeira, Florencio M, Jensen, Oscar, Pruzzo, Cesar, Alvarez, Jose D, Malandrini, Jorge Bruno
et al (show 2 more authors) (2021) Evidence of population structuring following population genetic analyses of <i>Fasciola hepatica</i> from Argentina. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY, 51 (6). pp. 471-480.

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Abstract

Fasciola hepatica, the liver fluke, is a trematode parasite that causes disease of economic importance in livestock. As a zoonosis this parasite also poses a risk to human health in areas where it is endemic. Population genetic studies can reveal the mechanisms responsible for genetic structuring (non-panmixia) within parasite populations and provide valuable insights into population dynamics, which in turn enables theoretical predictions of evolutionary dynamics such as the evolution of drug resistance. Here we genotyped 320 F. hepatica collected from 14 definitive hosts from four provinces in Argentina. STRUCTURE analysis indicated three population clusters, and principal coordinate analysis confirmed this, showing population clustering across provinces. Similarly, pairwise F<sub>ST</sub> values amongst all four provinces were significant, with standardised pairwise F<sub>ST</sub> (F'<sub>ST</sub>) ranging from 0.0754 to 0.6327. Therefore, population genetic structure was evident across these four provinces in Argentina. However, there was no evidence of deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, so it appears that within these sub-populations there is largely random mating. We identified 263 unique genotypes, which gave a clonal diversity of 82%. Parasites with identical genotypes, clones, accounted for 26.6% of the parasites studied and were found in 12 of the 14 hosts studied, suggesting some clonemate transmission.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Fasciola hepatica, Population genetics, Population structure, Clones, Argentina
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2021 11:49
Last Modified: 17 Oct 2023 22:33
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2020.11.007
Open Access URL: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2020.11.007
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3116451