Target gene enrichment in the cyclophyllidean cestodes, the most diverse group of tapeworms

Journal Title/Source

Molecular Ecology Resources

Publication Date

2016

Volume

16

Page Numbers

1095-1106

Document Type

Journal Article

Department

Biology

Abstract

The Cyclophyllidea is the most diverse order of tapeworms, encompassing species that infect all classes of terrestrial tetrapods including humans and domesticated animals. Available phylogenetic reconstructions based either on morphology or molecular data lack the resolution to allow scientists to either propose a solid taxonomy or infer evolutionary associations. Molecular markers available for the Cyclophyllidea mostly include ribosomal DNA and mitochondrial loci. In this study, we identified 3,641 single-copy nuclear coding loci by comparing the genomes of Hymenolepis microstoma, Echinococcus granulosus, and Taenia solium. We designed RNA baits based on the sequence of H. microstoma, and applied target enrichment and Illumina sequencing to test the utility of those baits to recover loci useful for phylogenetic analyses. We captured DNA from five species of tapeworms representing two families of cyclophyllideans. We obtained an average of 3,284 (90%) of the targets from the test samples and then used captured sequences (2,181,361 bp in total; fragment size ranging from 301 bp to 6,969 bp) to reconstruct a phylogeny for the five test species plus the three species for which genomic data are available. The results were consistent with the current consensus regarding cyclophyllidean relationships. To assess the potential for our method to yield informative genetic variation at intraspecific scales, we extracted 14,074 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from alignments of four Arostrilepis macrocirrosa and two A. cooki and successfully inferred their relationships. The results showed that our target gene tools yield datasets that provide robust inferences at a range of taxonomic scales in the Cyclophyllidea.

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