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The complete mitochondrial genome of rabbit pinworm Passalurus ambiguus: genome characterization and phylogenetic analysis

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Abstract

Passalurus ambiguus (Nematda: Oxyuridae) is a common pinworm which parasitizes in the caecum and colon of rabbits. Despite its significance as a pathogen, the epidemiology, genetics, systematics, and biology of this pinworm remain poorly understood. In the present study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of P. ambiguus. The circular mt genome is 14,023 bp in size and encodes of 36 genes, including 12 protein-coding, two ribosomal RNA, and 22 transfer RNA genes. The mt gene order of P. ambiguus is the same as that of Wellcomia siamensis, but distinct from that of Enterobius vermicularis. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes by Bayesian inference (BI) showed that P. ambiguus was more closely related to W. siamensis than to E. vermicularis. This mt genome provides novel genetic markers for studying the molecular epidemiology, population genetics, systematics of pinworm of animals and humans, and should have implications for the diagnosis, prevention, and control of passaluriasis in rabbits and other animals.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported, in part, by the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (grant no. 2013DFA31840) and the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of Gansu Province (grant no. 1210RJIA006) to XQZ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, 730046, Gansu, People’s Republic of China

    Guo-Hua Liu, Sheng Li & Xing-Quan Zhu

  2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, 650201, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China

    Sheng Li, Feng-Cai Zou & Xing-Quan Zhu

  3. College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, 163319, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Chun-Ren Wang & Xing-Quan Zhu

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  1. Guo-Hua Liu
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  2. Sheng Li
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  3. Feng-Cai Zou
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  4. Chun-Ren Wang
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  5. Xing-Quan Zhu
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Correspondence to Chun-Ren Wang or Xing-Quan Zhu.

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Liu, GH., Li, S., Zou, FC. et al. The complete mitochondrial genome of rabbit pinworm Passalurus ambiguus: genome characterization and phylogenetic analysis. Parasitol Res 115, 423–429 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4778-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4778-3

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