Molecular evidence of hybridization between pig and human <i>Ascaris</i> indicates an interbred species complex infecting humans.

ABSTRACT: Human ascariasis is a major neglected tropical disease caused by the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides. We report a 296 megabase (Mb) reference-quality genome comprised of 17,902 protein-coding genes derived from a single, representative Ascaris worm. An additional 68 worms were collected from 60 human hosts in Kenyan villages where pig husbandry is rare. Notably, the majority of these worms (63/68) possessed mitochondrial genomes that clustered closer to the pig parasite Ascaris suum than to A. lumbricoides. Comparative phylogenomic analyses identified over 11 million nuclear-encoded SNPs but just two distinct genetic types that had recombined across the genomes analyzed. The nuclear genomes had extensive heterozygosity, and all samples existed as genetic mosaics w

SUBMITTER: Easton A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7647404 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature