Assessment of helminth biodiversity in wild rats using 18S rDNA based metagenomics

Parasite diversity has important implications in several research fields including ecology, evolutionary biology and epidemiology. Wide-ranging analysis has been restricted because of the difficult, highly specialised and time-consuming processes involved in parasite identification. In this study, w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-10, Vol.9 (10), p.e110769-e110769
Main Authors: Tanaka, Ryusei, Hino, Akina, Tsai, Isheng J, Palomares-Rius, Juan Emilio, Yoshida, Ayako, Ogura, Yoshitoshi, Hayashi, Tetsuya, Maruyama, Haruhiko, Kikuchi, Taisei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Animals, Wild - parasitology
Biodiversity
Biological evolution
Biology and Life Sciences
Cestoda
Databases, Genetic
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Ecological monitoring
Ecology
Epidemiology
Evolution
Evolutionary biology
Fourier transforms
Genes
Genomics
Helminths - genetics
Helminths - isolation & purification
Intestine
Intestines - parasitology
Medical research
Medicine
Metagenomics
Molecular biology
Nematodes
Parasites
Parasites - genetics
Parasites - isolation & purification
Parasitology
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Rats
Rattus norvegicus
RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - genetics
Science
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Software
Species Specificity
Taxonomy
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Summary:Parasite diversity has important implications in several research fields including ecology, evolutionary biology and epidemiology. Wide-ranging analysis has been restricted because of the difficult, highly specialised and time-consuming processes involved in parasite identification. In this study, we assessed parasite diversity in wild rats using 18S rDNA-based metagenomics. 18S rDNA PCR products were sequenced using an Illumina MiSeq sequencer and the analysis of the sequences using the QIIME software successfully classified them into several parasite groups. The comparison of the results with those obtained using standard methods including microscopic observation of helminth parasites in the rat intestines and PCR amplification/sequencing of 18S rDNA from isolated single worms suggests that this new technique is reliable and useful to investigate parasite diversity.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0110769