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Molecular evidence for the endosymbiont Wolbachia in a non-filaroid nematode, Angiostrongylus cantonensis

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Journal of Biomedical Science

Summary

Wolbachia harbored by most filarial parasites, is critical to both embryogenesis and microfilarial development, and may lead to inflammation and pathogenesis in infected hosts. Based on alignment of the sequences from the wsp, ftsZ, and 16S rRNA genes, Wolbachia was demonstrated to exist in Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a non-filaroid nematode. Although the wsp gene may not be the best candidate for evolutionary analysis of Wolbachia, this gene has been sequenced from a broader coverage of the host species, making it feasible to be used for phylogenetic analysis in this study. The results from both Neighbor-joining and Maximum parsimony methods showed that this novel Wolbachia does not belong to any of the known groups (C or D) of nematode-derived Wolbachia. In addition, the wsp gene sequence of this newly identified endosymbiont revealed a high degree of identity (98%) with that from Diaea circumlita c2, tentatively classified into the putative group G. This suggests that Wolbachia from A. cantonensis could represent a deeply branched lineage in Wolbachia evolution or the occurrence of horizontal transfer between infected hosts. In conclusion, the findings provide some insights into our understanding of the evolution of Wolbachia, particularly the isolate from A. cantonensis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by a grant from the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC95-2320-B-182-017) and partially supported by Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CMRP 150251).

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Author notes

  1. Kun-Hsien Tsai

    Present address: Vector-Borne Viral and Rickettsial Diseases Laboratory, Research and Diagnoistic Center, Center for Disease Control, Department of Health, Center for Disease Control, Executive Yuan, Nan-Kang, Taipei, 11558, Taiwan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Kun-Hsien Tsai, Chin-Gi Huang & Wen-Jer Wu

  2. Department of Public Health and Parasitology, Chang Gung University, Kwei-San, Tao-Yuan, 33332, Taiwan

    Lian-Chen Wang, Yi-Wen Yu & Wei-June Chen

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  1. Kun-Hsien Tsai
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Correspondence to Wei-June Chen.

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Kun-Hsien Tsai and Chin-Gi Huang are contributed equally to this study

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Tsai, KH., Huang, CG., Wang, LC. et al. Molecular evidence for the endosymbiont Wolbachia in a non-filaroid nematode, Angiostrongylus cantonensis . J Biomed Sci 14, 607–615 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11373-007-9181-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11373-007-9181-3

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