Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T05:03:34.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Evidence for the hypothesis of strain formation in Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala): an investigation using mitochondrial DNA sequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2004

E. M. O'MAHONY
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
D. G. BRADLEY
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
C. R. KENNEDY
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Hatherly Laboratories, University of Exeter, Prince of Wales Road, Exeter EX4 4PS
C. V. HOLLAND
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Abstract

A hypothesis has been erected stating that in the British Isles the acanthocephalan, Pomphorhynchus laevis can be separated into 3 strains, an English, Irish and marine strain. Ecological and morphological evidence exists in support of this hypothesis. An investigation at the molecular level was conducted in order to test the validity of the existing evidence. A mitochondrial gene, subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase was partially sequenced from 3 Irish populations of P. laevis, 1 Scottish population and 3 English populations. P. laevis sequences from brown trout from Ireland, England and Scotland were very similar, showing a mean sequence divergence of 0·7%. Sequences from two populations of P. laevis from English chub and bullhead were also similar to each other (0·35% divergence). These two groups of sequences, the brown trout group and the chub/bullhead group were 2·2% different. These data confirm the existence of at least 2 strains in Ireland and Britain, although there is evidence to suggest that these strains are defined by their host species rather than by their geographical distributions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

BANDELT, H. J., FORSTER, P., SYKES, B. C. & RICHARDS, M. B. ( 1995). Mitochondrial portraits of human populations using median networks. Genetics 141, 743753.Google Scholar
BOWLES, J., BLAIR, D. & McMANUS, D. P. ( 1992). Genetic variants within the genus Echinococcus identified by mitochondrial DNA sequencing. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 54, 165174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BOWLES, J., HOPE, M., TIU, W. U., LIU, X. & McMANUS, D. P. ( 1993). Nuclear and mitochondrial genetic markers highly conserved between Chinese and Philippine Schistosoma japonicum. Acta Tropica 55, 217229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BROWN, A. F. ( 1987). Anatomical variability and secondary sexual characteristics in Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller, 1776) (Acanthocephala). Systematic Parasitology 9, 213219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BROWN, A. F. ( 1989). Seasonal dynamics of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller, 1776) in its intermediate and preferred definitive hosts. Journal of Fish Biology 34, 183194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EVANS, D. W., MATTHEWS, M. A. & McCLINTOCK, C. A. ( 2001). First record of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala) in fishes from Northern Ireland. Journal of Fish Biology 59, 166168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FITZGERALD, R. D. & MULCAHY, M. F. ( 1983). Parasites of salmon Salmo salar L. and trout Salmo trutta L. in the River Shournagh. Irish Fisheries Investigations Series A 23, 2431.Google Scholar
GAREY, J. R. & WOLSTENHOLME, D. R. ( 1989). Platyhelminth mitochondrial DNA: evidence for early evolutionary origin of a tRNAserAGN that contains a dihydrouridine arm replacement loop, and of serine-specifying AGA and AGG codons. Journal of Molecular Evolution 28, 374387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GIBSON, D. I. ( 1972). Flounder parasites as biological tags. Journal of Fish Biology 4, 19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HEWITT, G. M. ( 1996). Some genetic consequences of ice ages, and their role in divergence and speciation. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 58, 247276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HINE, P. M. & KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1974 a). Observations on the distribution, specificity and pathogenicity of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller). Journal of Fish Biology 6, 521535.Google Scholar
HINE, P. M. & KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1974 b). The population biology of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller) in the River Avon. Journal of Fish Biology 6, 665679.Google Scholar
HOLLAND, C. V. & KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1997). A checklist of parasitic helminth and crustacean species recorded in freshwater fish from Ireland. Biology and Environment 97B, 225243.Google Scholar
ITAGAKI, T., HONNAMI, M., ITO, D., ITO, K., TSUTSUMI, K., TERASAKI, K., SHIBAHARA, T. & NODA, Y. ( 2001). Mitochondrial DNA polymorphism of a triploid form of Fasciola in Japan. Journal of Helminthology 75, 193196.Google Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R. ( 1984). The status of flounders, Platichthys flesus L., as hosts of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller) and its survival in marine conditions. Journal of Fish Biology 24, 135149.Google Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R., BATES, R. M. & BROWN, A. F. ( 1989). Discontinuous distributions of the fish acanthocephalans Pomphorhynchus laevis and Acanthocephalus anguillae in Britain and Ireland: an hypothesis. Journal of Fish Biology 34, 607619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R., BROUGHTON, P. F. & HINE, P. M. ( 1976). The sites occupied by the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis in the alimentary canal of fish. Parasitology 72, 195206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KENNEDY, C. R., BROUGHTON, P. F. & HINE, P. M. ( 1978). The status of brown and rainbow trout, Salmo trutta and Salmo gairdneri as hosts of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis. Journal of Fish Biology 13, 265275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KRÁL'OVÁ-HROMADOVÁ, I., TIETZ, D. F., SHINN, A. P. & šPAKULOVÁ, M. ( 2003). ITS rDNA sequences of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Zoega in Müller, 1776) and P. lucyi Williams & Rogers, 1984 (Acanthocephala: Palaeacanthocephala). Systematic Parasitology 56, 141145.Google Scholar
MOLLOY, S., HOLLAND, C. & O'REGAN, M. ( 1995). Population biology of Pomphorhynchus laevis in brown trout from two lakes in the west of Ireland. Journal of Helminthology 69, 229235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MUNRO, M. A., REID, A. & WHITFIELD, P. J. ( 1990). Genomic divergence in the ecologically differentiated English freshwater and marine strains of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala: Palaeacanthocephala): a preliminary investigation. Parasitology 101, 451454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MUNRO, M. A., WHITFIELD, P. J. & DIFFLEY, R. ( 1989). Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller) in the flounder, Platichthys flesus L., in the tidal River Thames: population structure, microhabitat utilization and reproductive status in the field and under conditions of controlled salinity. Journal of Fish Biology 35, 719735.Google Scholar
O'MAHONY, E. M., KENNEDY, C. R. & HOLLAND, C. V. ( 2004). Comparison of morphological characters in Irish and English populations of the acanthocephalan Pomphorhynchus laevis (Muller, 1776). Systematic Parasitology (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PERROT-MINNOT, M. J. ( 2004). Larval morphology, genetic divergence, and contrasting levels of host manipulation between forms of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala). International Journal for Parasitology 34, 4554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHNEIDER, S., ROESSLI, D. & EXCOFFIER, L. ( 2000). Arlequin ver.2.000: a software for population genetics data analysis. Genetics and Biometry Laboratory, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
THOMPSON, R. C. A & LYMBERY, A. J. ( 1990). Intraspecific variation in parasites – what is a strain? Parasitology Today 6, 345347.Google Scholar
WENT, A. E. J. ( 1950). Notes on the introduction of some freshwater fish into Ireland. Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Dublin 47, 119124.Google Scholar
WHEELER, A. ( 1977). The origin and distribution of the freshwater fishes of the British Isles. Journal of Biogeography 4, 124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ZHANG, L., ESLAMI, A., HOSSEINI, S. H. & McMANUS, D. P. ( 1998). Indication of the presence of two distinct strains of Echinococcus granulosus in Iran by mitochondrial DNA markers. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 59, 171174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar