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Nuclear and mitochondrial genes for inferring Trichuris phylogeny

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Abstract

Nucleotide sequences of the triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) gene (624 bp) and mitochondrial cytochrome b (cob) gene (520 bp) were obtained by PCR and evaluated for utility in inferring the phylogenetic relationships among Trichuris species. Published sequences of one other nuclear gene (18S or SSU rRNA, 1816–1846 bp) and one additional mitochondrial (mtDNA) gene (cytochrome oxidase 1, cox1, 342 bp) were also analyzed. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods were used to infer phylogenies for each gene separately but also for the combined mitochondrial data (two genes), the combined nuclear data (two genes), and the total evidence (four gene) dataset. Few Trichuris clades were uniformly resolved across separate analyses of individual genes. For the mtDNA, the cob gene trees had greater phylogenetic resolution and tended to have higher support values than the cox1 analyses. For nuclear genes, the SSU gene trees had slightly greater resolution and support values than the TPI analyses, but TPI was the only gene with reliable support for the deepest nodes in the tree. Combined analyses of genes yielded strongly supported clades in most cases, with the exception of the relationship among Trichuris clades 1, 2, and 3, which showed conflicting results between nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Both the TPI and cob genes proved valuable for inferring Trichuris relationships, with greatest resolution and support values achieved through combined analysis of multiple genes. Based on the phylogeny of the combined analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial genes, parsimony mapping of definitive host utilization depicts artiodactyls as the ancestral hosts for these Trichuris, with host-shifts into primates, rodents, and Carnivora.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation PEET grant (DEB-0731516) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (CGL2008-01459/BOS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, 41012, Seville, Spain

    Rocío Callejón & Cristina Cutillas

  2. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Steven A. Nadler

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  1. Rocío Callejón
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  2. Cristina Cutillas
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  3. Steven A. Nadler
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Correspondence to Steven A. Nadler.

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Callejón, R., Cutillas, C. & Nadler, S.A. Nuclear and mitochondrial genes for inferring Trichuris phylogeny. Parasitol Res 114, 4591–4599 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4705-7

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