Molecular evidence of hybridization between pig and human Ascaris indicates an interbred species complex infecting humans

Human ascariasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides . We report a 296 megabase (Mb) reference-quality genome comprised of 17,902 protein-coding genes derived from a single, representative Ascaris worm. An additional 68 worms were collected from 60 human...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife Vol. 9
Main Authors: Easton, Alice, Gao, Shenghan, Lawton, Scott P, Bennuru, Sasisekhar, Khan, Asis, Dahlstrom, Eric, Oliveira, Rita G, Kepha, Stella, Porcella, Stephen F, Webster, Joanne, Anderson, Roy, Grigg, Michael E, Davis, Richard E, Wang, Jianbin, Nutman, Thomas B
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England eLife Science Publications, Ltd 06.11.2020
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
Subjects:
Analysis
Animals
Ascariasis - parasitology
Ascariasis - veterinary
Ascaris lumbricoides
Ascaris lumbricoides - genetics
Ascaris lumbricoides - pathogenicity
Ascaris suum
Ascaris suum - genetics
Ascaris suum - pathogenicity
Cyclooxygenase 1 - genetics
Epidemiology and Global Health
Female
Genes
Genetics and Genomics
Genome, Helminth - genetics
Genome, Mitochondrial - genetics
Genomes
Genomics
Heterozygote
Humans
Hybridization, Genetic - genetics
Kenya
Male
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics
Proteome - genetics
reference genome
Roundworms
species complex
Swine
Swine Diseases - parasitology
zoonoses
Kenya
global health
Ascaris lumbricoides
epidemiology
genetics
species complex
Ascaris suum
Phylogenetics
genomics
reference genome
zoonoses
human
ISSN:2050-084X, 2050-084X
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Human ascariasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides . We report a 296 megabase (Mb) reference-quality genome comprised of 17,902 protein-coding genes derived from a single, representative Ascaris worm. An additional 68 worms were collected from 60 human hosts in Kenyan villages where pig husbandry is rare. Notably, the majority of these worms (63/68) possessed mitochondrial genomes that clustered closer to the pig parasite Ascaris suum than to A. lumbricoides . Comparative phylogenomic analyses identified over 11 million nuclear-encoded SNPs but just two distinct genetic types that had recombined across the genomes analyzed. The nuclear genomes had extensive heterozygosity, and all samples existed as genetic mosaics with either A. suum -like or A. lumbricoides -like inheritance patterns supporting a highly interbred Ascaris species genetic complex. As no barriers appear to exist for anthroponotic transmission of these ‘hybrid’ worms, a one-health approach to control the spread of human ascariasis will be necessary.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.61562