Bian Chao-Rong, Gao Yu-Meng, Lamberton Poppy H L, Lu Da-Bing
Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, School of Public Health, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China.
Parasitol Res. 2015 Jun;114(6):2357-62. doi: 10.1007/s00436-015-4433-z. Epub 2015 Mar 25.
Schistosomiasis japonicum is one of the most important human parasitic diseases, and a number of studies have recently elucidated the difference in biological characteristics of S. japonicum among different parasite isolates, for example, between the field and the laboratory isolates. Therefore, the understanding of underlying genetic mechanism is of both theoretical and practical importance. In this study, we used six microsatellite markers to assess genetic diversity, population structure, and the bottleneck effect (a sharp reduction in population size) of two parasite populations, one field and one laboratory. A total of 136 S. japonicum cercariae from the field and 86 from the laboratory, which were genetically unique within single snails, were analyzed. The results showed bigger numbers of alleles and higher allelic richness in the field parasite population than in the laboratory indicating lower genetic diversity in the laboratory parasites. A bottleneck effect was detected in the laboratory population. When the field and laboratory isolates were combined, there was a clear distinction between two parasite populations using the software Structure. These genetic differences may partially explain the previously observed contrasted biological traits.
日本血吸虫病是最重要的人类寄生虫病之一，最近的一些研究阐明了不同日本血吸虫分离株之间生物学特性的差异，例如野外分离株和实验室分离株之间的差异。因此，了解其潜在的遗传机制具有理论和实际意义。在本研究中，我们使用六个微卫星标记来评估一个野外和一个实验室的两个寄生虫种群的遗传多样性、种群结构和瓶颈效应（种群大小的急剧减少）。共分析了来自野外的136只日本血吸虫尾蚴和来自实验室的86只尾蚴，这些尾蚴在单个钉螺内具有遗传独特性。结果表明，野外寄生虫种群的等位基因数量更多，等位基因丰富度更高，表明实验室寄生虫的遗传多样性较低。在实验室种群中检测到瓶颈效应。当将野外和实验室分离株合并时，使用Structure软件可以清楚地区分两个寄生虫种群。这些遗传差异可能部分解释了先前观察到的生物学特性差异。
