Purpose

The giant liver fluke, Fascioloides magna, is an important parasite of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginanus), a commercially important game species in the northeastern United States. However, the parasite has never been genetically characterized from this region and so its genetic interrelationships with other enzootic populations on the continent are unknown. The purpose of this study was to genetically characterize F. magna from the Adirondack region of northern New York (NNY) and determine its relationship with its enzootic cohorts.

Methods

Flukes were extracted from seven livers of O. virginanus at three localities in and around the Adirondack Park in northern New York. DNA was extracted from eight individuals using standard procedures, and a 440-bp fragment of the COI gene was amplified using species-specific primers. F. magna sequences generated from a previous phylogeographic study were obtained from the GenBank database and a mtDNA dataset was compiled, aligned, and edited for molecular analyses. Analyses based on eight mtDNA sequences included haplotype network reconstruction, along with hierarchical and pairwise (Ф_ST) AMOVA tests.

Results

F. magna from the Adirondacks was found to be most genetically similar to specimens from Minnesota based on shared haplotypes and relatively low genetic differentiation (Ф_{ST =} 0.331). East coast enzootic populations exhibited panmixia while their west coast cohorts were genetically distinct.

Conclusion

Based on the strong genetic similarities between F. magna from northern New York and Minnesota, we propose that the GLR enzootic range of F. magna be extended to encompass the Adirondack region of NNY.

中文翻译：

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来自纽约北部阿迪朗达克地区的巨型肝吸虫，大片吸虫（扁形动物：片形吸虫科）的遗传特征。

目的

巨型肝吸虫Fascioloides magna是白尾鹿 ( Odocoileus virginanus ) 的一种重要寄生虫，白尾鹿是美国东北部具有重要商业价值的猎物物种。然而，这种寄生虫从未在该地区进行过遗传特征鉴定，因此它与该大陆其他地方性动物种群的遗传相互关系尚不清楚。本研究的目的是对来自纽约北部 (NNY) 的阿迪朗达克地区的F. magna进行遗传表征，并确定其与地方性动物群落的关系。

方法

在纽约北部阿迪朗达克公园及其周围的三个地点，从O. virginanus 的七个肝脏中提取了吸虫。使用标准程序从八个个体中提取 DNA，并使用物种特异性引物扩增 COI 基因的 440 bp 片段。从之前的系统地理学研究中产生的F. magna序列是从 GenBank 数据库中获得的，并且一个 mtDNA 数据集被编译、比对和编辑用于分子分析。基于八个 mtDNA 序列的分析包括单倍型网络重建，以及分层和成对 (Ф _ST ) AMOVA 测试。

结果

根据共享的单倍型和相对较低的遗传分化（Ф _{ST =} 0.331），发现来自阿迪朗达克山脉的F. magna在遗传上与来自明尼苏达州的标本最为相似。东海岸地方性动物种群表现出泛混合，而它们的西海岸队列在遗传上是不同的。

结论

基于来自纽约北部和明尼苏达州的F. magna之间的强烈遗传相似性，我们建议将F. magna的 GLR 地方性动物范围扩展到包括 NNY 的阿迪朗达克地区。