Landscape genetics of Schistocephalus solidus parasites in threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from Alaska.

ABSTRACT: The nature of gene flow in parasites with complex life cycles is poorly understood, particularly when intermediate and definitive hosts have contrasting movement potential. We examined whether the fine-scale population genetic structure of the diphyllobothriidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus reflects the habits of intermediate threespine stickleback hosts or those of its definitive hosts, semi-aquatic piscivorous birds, to better understand complex host-parasite interactions. Seventeen lakes in the Cook Inlet region of south-central Alaska were sampled, including ten in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, five on the Kenai Peninsula, and two in the Bristol Bay drainage. We analyzed sequence variation across a 759 bp region of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase I region for 1,026

SUBMITTER: Sprehn CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4395347 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature