First mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences of Lamanema chavezi (Nematoda: Molineidae): Novel findings to improve its identification in feces from South American camelids

Publication date: Available online 17 October 2018Source: Parasitology InternationalAuthor(s): Romina S. Petrigh, María M. Cafrune, Martín H. FugassaAbstractLamanema chavezi (Family Molineidae) is a parasitic nematode of South American camelids (SACs). A few studies have reported this parasite in SACs, mainly in domestic camelid species (llama and alpaca). Parasite identification by means of copro-parasitological methods is non-invasive and allows performing epidemiological studies. However, egg misidentification and difficulty to culture third-stage larvae do not allow identifying nematodes to species level. In contrast, molecular tools allow identifying eggs of gastrointestinal nematodes more accurately. However, the little genomic information available in databases for some species prevents an accurate diagnosis. In the present work, L. chavezi females present in feces of llamas from northwestern Argentina were molecularly characterized to obtain genomic information and improve parasitological diagnosis of L. chavezi-like eggs present in guanaco feces from southeastern Argentina. An 833-bp fragment of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and a 434-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene from both L. chavezi females and eggs were amplified and sequenced. Comparison between sequences from females and eggs showed 99–99.6% identity to rDNA and 99.5–96.1% to the cox1 gene fragments, confirming egg morphological assignment. A higher divergence b...
Source: Parasitology International - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research