Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62521, Egypt.
Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.
J Parasitol. 2020 Oct 1;106(5):644-653. doi: 10.1645/18-120.
Between June 2016 and June 2019, we surveyed 62 Mediterranean geckos, Hemidactylus turcicus, from Abu Rawash, Giza, Egypt, for the presence of endoparasites. In June 2016, we found 3 individuals to be infected with Eimeria lineri. We studied the morphology and inner structures of its sporulated oocysts, and the locations of its intestinal endogenous stages. We also extracted genomic DNA from these sporulated oocysts and successfully sequenced a 632-bp fragment of the 18S rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analyses using this partial sequence allowed us to support previous studies that assigned E. lineri to the genus Acroeimeria. Our consensus sequence was used to query similar 18S rDNA sequences from GenBank, and 14 sequences were selected. The phylogenetic analysis inferred by maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods gave similar results, as both separated the sequences into 2 clades: (1) a monophyletic group of Goussia species (from fish); and (2) a strongly supported clade that separated 4 Choleoeimeria species from a polyphyletic group of species that clustered A. lineri with 3 other Acroeimeria species and 3 Eimeria species from lizards, including Eimeria tiliquae from Tiliqua rugosa (Gray, 1825), Eimeria tokayae from Gecko gecko (L., 1758), and Eimeria eutropidis from Eutropis macularia (Blyth, 1853). Our study supports the placement of E. lineri into the Acroeimeria and contributes additional life history information toward understanding the evolutionary origin of the Eimeria-like species that have sporocysts without Stieda bodies in their oocysts and that infect saurian reptiles. We also support the concept that several traits (morphological, endogenous, and gene sequences) are both necessary and important for authors to include when making generic reassignments within the eimeriid coccidia.
在 2016 年 6 月至 2019 年 6 月期间，我们对来自埃及吉萨阿布罗瓦什的 62 只地中海壁虎（Hemidactylus turcicus）进行了寄生虫调查。2016 年 6 月，我们发现有 3 只感染了线中艾美球虫（Eimeria lineri）。我们研究了其孢子化卵囊的形态和内部结构，以及肠道内生阶段的位置。我们还从这些孢子化卵囊提取了基因组 DNA，并成功地对 18S rRNA 基因的 632bp 片段进行了测序。使用该部分序列进行的系统发育分析使我们能够支持先前的研究，即把线中艾美球虫归入 Acroeimeria 属。我们的共识序列被用来查询 GenBank 中相似的 18S rDNA 序列，选择了 14 个序列。最大似然和贝叶斯推断方法的系统发育分析得出了相似的结果，这两种方法都将序列分为 2 个分支：（1）一个来自鱼类的 Goussia 种的单系群；（2）一个强烈支持的分支，将 4 种 Choleoeimeria 种与一个多系群分开，该多系群包括 A. lineri 与另外 3 种 Acroeimeria 种和 3 种来自蜥蜴的艾美球虫，包括来自 Tiliqua rugosa（Gray，1825）的 Tiliqua 球虫（Eimeria tiliquae）、来自 Gecko gecko（L.，1758）的 Tokay 球虫（Eimeria tokayae）和来自 Eutropis macularia（Blyth，1853）的 Eutropis 球虫（Eimeria eutropidis）。我们的研究支持将线中艾美球虫归入 Acroeimeria 属，并为了解具有孢子囊而没有卵囊内 Stieda 体的艾美球虫样种的进化起源提供了更多的生活史信息，这些种感染爬行动物。我们还支持这样的概念，即几个特征（形态学、内生性和基因序列）对于作者在艾美球虫类球虫中进行属的重新分配时都是必要和重要的。
