Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T00:55:09.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Phylogenetic relationships between Toxoplasma and Sarcocystis deduced from a comparison of 18S rDNA sequences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

J. T. Ellis
Affiliation:
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Technology Sydney, Gore Hill, New South Wales 2065, Australia
K. Luton
Affiliation:
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Technology Sydney, Gore Hill, New South Wales 2065, Australia
P. R. Baverstock
Affiliation:
Centre for Conservation Technology, Southern Cross University, Lismore, New South Wales 2480, Australia
G. Whitworth
Affiliation:
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Technology Sydney, Gore Hill, New South Wales 2065, Australia
A. M. Tenter
Affiliation:
Institut für Parasitologie, Tierärztliche Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany
A. M. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Technology Sydney, Gore Hill, New South Wales 2065, Australia

Summary

The current taxonomy of parasites in the genus Sarcocystis is largely based on morphological characteristics as well as on host specificity and life-cycle structure. Recently, phylogenetic analyses of partial ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences provided support for paraphyly of Sarcocystis. We have tested the validity of this hypothesis by sequencing the complete 18S rRNA genes of Sarcocystis arieticanis, Sarcocystis gigantea and Sarcocystis tenella and comparing them with gene sequences derived from other taxa of the phylum Apicomplexa. The results obtained from this study do not reject the hypothesis of monophyly of Sarcocystis species, although the bootstrap data were inconclusive for some species.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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

Anderson, J. W., Elbrecht, A., Dashkevicz, M., Feighner, S. D., Chakraborty, P. R., Liberator, P. A, Profous-Juchelka, H. & Perkins-Barrow, A. (1992). Species-specific method for identifying infectivity of Eimeria species. European Patent Application 0 516 381 A2.Google Scholar
Barta, J. R. (1989). Phylogenetic analysis of the class Sporozoea (phylum Apicomplexa Levine 1970): evidence for the independent evolution of heteroxenous life cycles. Journal of Parasitology 75, 195206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beanland, T. J. & Howe, C. J. (1992). The inference of evolutionary trees from molecular data. Comparative and Biochemical Physiology 102B, 643–59.Google ScholarPubMed
Cai, J., Collins, M. D., McDonald, V. & Thompson, D. E. (1992). PCR cloning and nucleotide sequence determination of the 18S rRNA genes and internal transcribed spacer 1 of the protozoan parasites Cryptosporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium muris. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1131, 317–20.Google Scholar
Dubey, J. P., Speer, C. A. & Fayer, R. (1989). Sarcocystosis of Animals and Man. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, J., Hefford, C., Baverstock, P. R., Dalrymple, B. P. & Johnson, A. M. (1992). Ribosomal DNA sequence comparison of Babesia and Theileria. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 54, 8796.Google Scholar
Ellis, J., Luton, K., Baverstock, P., Brindley, P. J., Nimmo, K. A. & Johnson, A. M. (1994 a). The phylogeny of Neospora caninum. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 64, 303–11.Google Scholar
Ellis, J., Morrison, D. A. & Johnson, A. M. (1994 b). The molecular phylogeny of sporozoan parasites. Today's Life Science 6, 30–4.Google Scholar
Felsenstein, J. (1985). Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution 39, 783–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gajadhar, A. A., Marquardt, W. C., Hall, R., Gunderson, J., Ariztia-Carmona, E. V. & Sogin, M. L. (1991). Ribosomal RNA sequences of Sarcocystis muris, Theileria annulata and Crypthecodinium cohnii reveal evolutionary relationships among apicomplexans, dinoflagellates and ciliates. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 45, 145–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goggin, C. L. & Barker, S. C. (1993). Phylogenetic position of the genus Perkinsus (Protista, Apicomplexa) based on small subunit ribosomal DNA. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 60, 6570.Google Scholar
Hendy, M. D. & Penny, D. (1982). Branch and bound algorithms to determine minimal evolutionary trees. Mathematical Biosciences 59, 277–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, D. G., Bleasby, A. J. & Fuchs, R. (1992). CLUSTAL V: Improved software for multiple sequence alignment. CABIOS 8, 189–91.Google ScholarPubMed
Holmdahl, O. J. M., Mattson, J. G., Uggla, A. & Johansson, K.-E. (1993). Oligonucleotide probes complementary to variable regions of 18S rRNA from Sarcocystis species. Molecular and Cellular Probes 7, 481–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, A. M., Illana, S., Hakendorf, P. & Baverstock, P. R. (1988). Phylogenetic relationships of the apicomplexan protist Sarcocystis as determined by small subunit ribosomal RNA sequence comparison. Journal of Parasitology 74, 847–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, N. D. (1986). The taxonomy of Sarcocystis (Protozoa, Apicomplexa) species. Journal of Parasitology 72, 372–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neefs, J.-M., de Peer, Van Y., de Rijk, P., Goris, A. & Dewachter, R. (1991). Compilation of small ribosomal subunit RNA sequences. Nucleic Acids Research 19, 19872016.Google Scholar
O'Donoghue, P. J., Adams, M., Dixon, B. R., Ford, G. E. & Baverstock, P. R. (1986). Morphological and biochemical correlates in the characterisation of Sarcocystis spp. Journal of Protozoology 33, 114–21.Google Scholar
Olsen, G. J. & Woese, C. R. (1993). Ribosomal RNA: a key to phylogeny. The FASEB Journal 7, 113–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rohlf, F. J. & Sokal, R. R. (1981). Comparing numerical taxonomic studies. Systematic Zoology 30, 459–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. D. (1981). The Sarcocystidae: Sarcocystis, Frenkelia, Toxoplasma, Besnoitia, Hammondia and Cystoisopora. Journal of Protozoology 28, 262–6.Google Scholar
Stewart, C.-B. (1993). The powers and pitfalls of parsimony. Nature, London 361, 603–7.Google Scholar
Tadros, W. & Laarman, J. J. (1982). Current concepts on the biology, evolution and taxonomy of tissue cyst-forming eimeriid coccidia. Advances in Parasitology 20, 293468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tenter, A. M., Baverstock, P. R. & Johnson, A. M. (1992). Phylogenetic relationships of Sarcocystis species from sheep, goats, cattle and mice based on ribosomal RNA sequences. International Journal for Parasitology 22, 503–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tenter, A. M., Luton, K. & Johnson, A. M. (1994). Species-specific identification of Sarcocystis and Toxoplasma by PCR amplification of small subunit ribosomal RNA gene fragments. Applied Parasitology. 35, 173–88.Google Scholar