Morphological and molecular confirmation of the validity of Trichuris rhinopiptheroxella in the endangered golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana)

The golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is an endangered species endemic to China. Relatively little is known about the taxonomic status of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) in these monkeys. Trichuris spp. (syn. Trichocephalus) are among the most important STHs, causing significant so...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of helminthology 2019-09, Vol.93 (5), p.601-607
Main Authors: Wang, H.B., Zhang, H.J., Song, L.L., Zhu, L., Chen, M., Ren, G.J., Liu, G.H., Zhao, G.H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino acids
Animal morphology
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Economic impact
Economics
Endangered & extinct species
Endangered species
Endemic species
Epidemiology
Genes
Genetic distance
Genomes
Laboratory animals
Mitochondria
Mitochondrial DNA
Monkeys
Morphology
Parasites
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Public health
Rare species
Research Paper
Rhinopithecus roxellana
Socioeconomic aspects
Soil
Taxonomy
Worms
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) is an endangered species endemic to China. Relatively little is known about the taxonomic status of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) in these monkeys. Trichuris spp. (syn. Trichocephalus) are among the most important STHs, causing significant socio-economic losses and public health concerns. To date, five Trichuris species have been reported in golden monkeys, including a novel species, T. rhinopiptheroxella, based on morphology. In the present study, molecular and morphological analysis was conducted on adult Trichuris worms obtained from a dead golden snub-nosed monkey, to better understand their taxonomic status. Morphology indicated that the adult Trichuris worms were similar to T. rhinopiptheroxella. To further ascertain their phylogenetic position, the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of these worms was sequenced and characterized. The mt genome of T. rhinopiptheroxella is 14,186 bp, encoding 37 genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated amino acids of 12 protein-coding genes (with the exception of atp8) indicated that T. rhinopiptheroxella was genetically distinct and exhibited 27.5–27.8% genetic distance between T. rhinopiptheroxella and other Trichuris spp. Our results support T. rhinopiptheroxella as a valid Trichuris species and suggest that mt DNA could serve as a marker for future studies on the classification, evolution and molecular epidemiology of Trichuris spp. from golden snub-nosed monkeys.
ISSN:0022-149X
1475-2697
DOI:10.1017/S0022149X18000500