Elucidating cryptic dynamics of Theileria communities in African buffalo using a high-throughput sequencing informatics approach.

ABSTRACT: Increasing access to next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies is revolutionizing the life sciences. In disease ecology, NGS-based methods have the potential to provide higher-resolution data on communities of parasites found in individual hosts as well as host populations.Here, we demonstrate how a novel analytical method, utilizing high-throughput sequencing of PCR amplicons, can be used to explore variation in blood-borne parasite (Theileria-Apicomplexa: Piroplasmida) communities of African buffalo at higher resolutions than has been obtained with conventional molecular tools.Results reveal temporal patterns of synchronized and opposite fluctuations of prevalence and relative abundance of Theileria spp. within the host population, suggesting heterogeneous transmission

SUBMITTER: Glidden CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6972817 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature