Phylogeny and sequence variability of the Sarcocystis singaporensis Zaman and Colley, (1975) 1976 ssrDNA

Parasitol Res. 2002 Sep;88(9):810-5. doi: 10.1007/s00436-002-0657-9. Epub 2002 May 15.

Abstract

The coccidium Sarcocystis singaporensis (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) is a cyst-forming parasite with potential as a biological agent for the control of wild populations of rodents in non-native environments. Phylogenetic analysis based on the ssrDNA supports S. singaporensisisolates as a sister species to sarcosporidians transmitted between snakes and rodents but an association with the carnivore-ruminant Sarcocystis spp. could not be rejected by likelihood ratio tests. Four complete and six partial ssrDNA sequences representing this species are monophyletic in any tree reconstruction method; however, they possess very high pairwise distances of up to 0.053. The obtained sequences suggest the probable existence of at least two divergent paralogous ssrDNAs. Moreover, our results support the co-evolution of lsrDNA and ssrDNA in S. singaporensis. The utility of coccidian lsrDNA and ssrDNA for evolutionary studies and their abundance in the primary nucleotide databases is discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biological Evolution
  • DNA, Ribosomal / genetics*
  • DNA, Single-Stranded / analysis*
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Host-Parasite Interactions
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny*
  • RNA, Protozoan / analysis
  • Rodentia / parasitology
  • Sarcocystis / genetics*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Snakes / parasitology
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • DNA, Ribosomal
  • DNA, Single-Stranded
  • RNA, Protozoan

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AF434050
  • GENBANK/AF434051
  • GENBANK/AF434052
  • GENBANK/AF434053
  • GENBANK/AF434054
  • GENBANK/AF434055
  • GENBANK/AF434056
  • GENBANK/AF434057
  • GENBANK/AF434058
  • GENBANK/AF434059