Department of Pharmacology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong 51504, China.
Department of Parasitology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Infect Genet Evol. 2024 Nov;125:105676. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105676. Epub 2024 Sep 27.
Taenia multiceps is a neglected parasite having veterinary and public health importance. The predilection sites of the parasite larva (Coenurus cerebralis) are brain (cerebral coenurosis) and subcutaneous (non-cerebral coenurosis). There is a dearth of data regarding molecular characterization of T. multiceps and even fewer population structure-based studies on T. multiceps. The current study was conducted to provide epidemiological information regarding the global population structure of the parasite. The NCBI GenBank database was accessed to download the sequences of cox1 gene, which were further subjected to PopArt software to construct median-joining networks. The DnaSp software was used to compute neutrality and diversity indices. Host and region-wise indices of neutrality and diversity were also computed. There were 166 gene sequences found in the NCBI database. Followed by removal of short gene sequences, 143 were considered to perform bioinformatic analyses. A total of 30 haplotypes with 46 mutations and 23 parsimony informative sites were found. High diversity (Hd = 0.889, π = 0.01186) and negative but statistically insignificant neutrality indices (Tajima's D = -1.57659, Fu's Fs = -10.552) were found. Region-wise results revealed highest haplotype diversities in isolates from KSA (Hd = 1.00) followed by Greece and Italy (Hd = 0.962), and China (Hd = 0.931). Host-wise data analysis showed an overall negative Tajima's D value and there exists highest haplotype diversity in cattle (Hd = 1.00) followed by dogs (Hd = 0.833), sheep (Hd = 0.795) and goats (Hd = 0.788). The findings of the study indicate that the population diversity of T. multiceps will increase worldwide as shown by high diversity and negative neutrality indices. The findings of the study significantly add-in to the existing bank of knowledge about population structure of T. multiceps. We recommend conducting more studies employing different genetic markers to better comprehend the epidemiology of the parasite.
多头绦虫是一种被忽视的寄生虫，具有兽医和公共卫生重要性。该寄生虫幼虫（多头蚴）的偏好部位是脑（脑多头蚴）和皮下（非脑多头蚴）。关于多头绦虫的分子特征，甚至关于多头绦虫的种群结构研究的数据都很少。本研究旨在提供有关该寄生虫全球种群结构的流行病学信息。访问 NCBI GenBank 数据库以下载 cox1 基因的序列，然后使用 PopArt 软件构建中位数连接网络。使用 DnaSp 软件计算中性和多样性指数。还计算了宿主和区域中性和多样性的指数。在 NCBI 数据库中发现了 166 个基因序列。在去除短基因序列后，考虑了 143 个序列进行生物信息学分析。共发现 30 个单倍型，有 46 个突变和 23 个简约信息位点。发现了高多样性（Hd=0.889，π=0.01186）和负但统计学上不显著的中性指数（Tajima 的 D=-1.57659，Fu 的 Fs=-10.552）。区域结果显示，沙特阿拉伯（KSA）分离株的单倍型多样性最高（Hd=1.00），其次是希腊和意大利（Hd=0.962），中国（Hd=0.931）。宿主分析数据显示总体 Tajima 的 D 值为负，牛的单倍型多样性最高（Hd=1.00），其次是狗（Hd=0.833）、绵羊（Hd=0.795）和山羊（Hd=0.788）。研究结果表明，如高多样性和负中性指数所示，全球范围内多头绦虫的种群多样性将会增加。本研究的结果极大地补充了关于多头绦虫种群结构的现有知识库。我们建议进行更多的研究，采用不同的遗传标记，以更好地了解寄生虫的流行病学。
