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Molecular characterization of a novel Spiruromorpha species in wild Chinese pangolin by mitogenome sequence analysis

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Abstract

Pangolins are susceptible to a variety of gastrointestinal nematodes due to their burrowing lifestyle and feeding habits, and few parasitic nematodes have been reported. Here, a Chinese pangolin with old wounds on its leg and tail was rescued from the Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. The cox1 and SSU rRNA of the worms from the intestine of the Chinese pangolin had the highest sequence identity of 89.58% and 97.95% to the species in the infraorder Spiruromorpha. The complete mitogenome of the worm was further assembled by next-generation sequencing, with a size of 13,708 bp and a GC content of 25.6%. The worm mitogenome had the highest sequence identity of 78.56% to that of Spirocerca lupi, sharing the same gene arrangement with S. lupi and some species in other families under Spiruromorpha. However, the mitogenome between the worm and S. lupi showed differences in codon usage of PCGs, sequences of NCR, and tRNA secondary structures. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the worm mitogenome was clustered with S. lupi in the family Thelaziidae to form a separate branch. However, it is still difficult to identify the worm in the family Thelaziidae because the species in the family Thelaziidae are confused, specifically S. lupi and Thelazia callipaeda in the family Thelaziidae were separated and grouped with species from other families. Thus, the parasitic nematode from the Chinese pangolin may be a novel species in Spiruromorpha and closely related to S. lupi. This study enriches the data on gastrointestinal nematodes in the Chinese pangolin.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.

Abbreviations

ORF:

Open reading frame

PCG:

Protein coding gene

atp6 and atp8:

ATPase subunits 6 and 8

cox1-3:

Cytochrome c oxidase subunits I-III

cytb:

Cytochrome b

nad1-6 and nad4L:

NADH dehydrogenase subunits 1–6 and 4L

rrnS and rrnL:

Small and large subunits ribosome

tRNA:

Transfer RNA

NCR:

Non-coding region

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072881), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2023A1515011964), Double First-class Discipline Promotion Project (2023B10564003), 111 Project (D20008).

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Author notes

  1. Hongyi Li and Wu Chen are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Hongyi Li, Wenmin Qi, Zhengjiu Ren, Xi Pan, Fei Shen, Jinzhi Lu, Lihua Xiao, Yaoyu Feng & Dongjuan Yuan

  2. Guangzhou Zoo & Guangzhou Wildlife Research Center, Guangzhou, 510070, China

    Wu Chen, Junqiong Zhai & Yajiang Wu

  3. Guangdong Wildlife Monitoring and Rescue Center, Guangzhou, 510520, China

    Jiejian Zou

Authors
  1. Hongyi Li
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  2. Wu Chen
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Contributions

D. Y. supervised the whole project, W. C., J. Z., Y. W., J. Z. performed worm collection, W. Q., Z. R., and X. P. performed DNA extraction and PCR reactions, H. L., F. S. and J. L. performed gene sequence collection and analyses, D. Y. wrote original draft, D. Y., L. X., and Y. F. provided their professional expertise. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yaoyu Feng or Dongjuan Yuan.

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Li, H., Chen, W., Qi, W. et al. Molecular characterization of a novel Spiruromorpha species in wild Chinese pangolin by mitogenome sequence analysis. Parasitol Res 123, 137 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-024-08143-y

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