Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR 5558, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Unité Ongulés Sauvages, 5 allée de Bethléem, Z.I. Mayencin, 38610 Gières, France.
Parasite. 2019;26:64. doi: 10.1051/parasite/2019062. Epub 2019 Nov 7.
Gastro-intestinal nematodes, especially Haemonchus contortus, are widespread pathogenic parasites of small ruminants. Studying their spatial genetic structure is as important as studying host genetic structure to fully understand host-parasite interactions and transmission patterns. For parasites having a simple life cycle (e.g., monoxenous parasites), gene flow and spatial genetic structure are expected to strongly rely on the socio-spatial behavior of their hosts. Based on five microsatellite loci, we tested this hypothesis for H. contortus sampled in a wild Mediterranean mouflon population (Ovis gmelini musimon × Ovis sp.) in which species- and environment-related characteristics have been found to generate socio-spatial units. We nevertheless found that their parasites had no spatial genetic structure, suggesting that mouflon behavior was not enough to limit parasite dispersal in this study area and/or that other ecological and biological factors were involved in this process, for example other hosts, the parasite life cycle, or the study area history.
胃肠线虫，尤其是捻转血矛线虫，是广泛存在的绵羊和山羊病原寄生虫。研究其空间遗传结构与研究宿主遗传结构同样重要，因为这有助于全面了解宿主-寄生虫相互作用和传播模式。对于具有简单生命周期的寄生虫（例如单宿主寄生虫），基因流和空间遗传结构预计将强烈依赖于其宿主的社会空间行为。本研究基于五个微卫星基因座，针对在野生地中海摩弗伦绵羊种群（Ovis gmelini musimon × Ovis sp.）中采集的捻转血矛线虫进行了测试，该种群的物种和环境相关特征被发现会形成社会空间单元。然而，我们发现这些寄生虫没有空间遗传结构，这表明在本研究区域，摩弗伦绵羊的行为不足以限制寄生虫的扩散，或者其他生态和生物学因素也参与了这个过程，例如其他宿主、寄生虫的生命周期或研究区域的历史。
