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Fish Trypanosomes: Their Position in Kinetoplastid Phylogeny and Variability as Determined from 12S rRNA Kinetoplast Sequences
Author(s) -
FIGUEROA FELIPE,
MAYER WERNER E.,
LOM JIŘÍ,
DYKOVÁ IVA,
WELLER MATHIAS,
PECKOVA HANA,
KLEIN JAN
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1999.tb06064.x
Subject(s) - biology , kinetoplast , phylogenetics , fish <actinopterygii> , trypanosoma , protozoa , zoology , ribosomal rna , evolutionary biology , genetics , dna , fishery , gene
Fish trypanosomes have traditionally been classified according to the host species from which they were isolated, each isolate being regarded as a distinct species. To test the soundness of this practice, the genetic variabilities of the kinetoplast 12S rRNA‐encoding genes of different fish trypanosomes isolates were compared. The DNAs were extracted from trypanosomes cloned from blood samples of 15 donors representing ten different fish species in four orders from waters of three major river systems of Central and Northern Europe. Comparison with other trypanosomatid sequences revealed that the fish trypanosomes form a monophyletic group with Trypanosoma brucei as a sister group. Pairwise comparisons of genetic distances yielded a wide range of continuous variation with no indication of any discontinuities attributable to barriers to gene flow. The genetic distances did not correlate with either the identity of the host species or geography. The host specificity of fish trypanosomes appears to be limited.