Sequences and gene organization of the mitochondrial genomes of the liver flukes Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis (Trematoda)

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 110; no. 1; pp. 235 - 243
• Main Authors: Cai, X. Q., Liu, G. H., Song, H. Q., Wu, C. Y., Zou, F. C., Yan, H. K., Yuan, Z. G., Lin, R. Q., Zhu, X. Q.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-01-2012; Springer
• Subjects: Animals; Base Composition; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cats; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Clonorchis sinensis - genetics; Clonorchis sinensis - isolation & purification; Cluster Analysis; DNA sequencing; DNA, Helminth - chemistry; DNA, Helminth - genetics; DNA, Mitochondrial - chemistry; DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Order; General aspects; General aspects and techniques. Study of several systematic groups. Models; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Genome, Mitochondrial; Immunology; Invertebrates; Korea; Laos; Medical Microbiology; Microbial genetics; Microbiology; Mitochondria; Molecular Sequence Data; Nemathelminthia. Plathelmintha; Nucleotide sequencing; Opisthorchis - genetics; Opisthorchis - isolation & purification; Original Paper; Phylogeny; Physiological aspects; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Laos; Korea; China; Clonorchiasis; Liver Fluke; Schistosoma Japonicum; Schistosoma; High Statistical Support; Mitochondria; Liver; Helmintha; Plathelmintha; Parasite; Clonorchis sinensis; Gene organization; Invertebrata; Genome; Opisthorchis viverrini; Trematoda
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-011-2477-2

Opisthorchis viverrini
and
Clonorchis sinensis
are important trematodes infecting humans and animals, belonging to the family Opisthorchiidae. In the present study, we sequenced the nearly complete mitochondrial (mt) DNA (mtDNA) sequences of
O. viverrini
from Laos, obtained the complete mtDNA sequences of
C. sinensis
from China and Korea, and revealed their gene annotations and genome organizations. The mtDNA sequences of
O. viverrini
,
C. sinensis
(China isolate),
C. sinensis
(Korea isolate) were 13,510, 13,879, and 13,877 bp in size, respectively. Each of the three mt genomes comprises 36 genes, consisting of 12 genes coding for proteins, two genes for rRNA, and 20 genes (
O. viverrini
) or 22 genes (
C. sinensis
) for tRNA. The gene content and arrangement are identical to that of
Fasciola hepatica
, and
Paragonimus westermani
, but distinct from
Schistosoma
spp. All genes are transcribed in the same direction and have a nucleotide composition high in T. The contents of A + T of the mt genomes were 59.39% for
O. viverrini
, 60.03% for
C. sinensis
(China isolate), and 59.99% for
C. sinensis
(Korea isolate). Phylogenetic analyses using concatenated amino acid sequences of the 12 protein-coding genes, with three different computational algorithms [maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis], all revealed distinct groups with high statistical support, indicating that
O. viverrini
and
C. sinensis
represent sister taxa. These data provide additional novel mtDNA markers for studying the molecular epidemiology and population genetics of the two liver flukes and should have implications for the molecular diagnosis, prevention, and control of opisthorchiasis and clonorchiasis in humans and animals.