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Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut
Protozoa, of the taxon Gregarinasina, are a heterogeneous group of Apicomplexa that includes ~1600 species. They are parasites of a large variety of both marine and terrestrial invertebrates, mainly annelids, arthropods and mollusks. Unlike coccidians and heamosporidians, gregarines have not proven...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313518/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30486465 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6040119 |
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author | Nocciolini, Chiara Cucini, Claudio Leo, Chiara Francardi, Valeria Dreassi, Elena Carapelli, Antonio |
author_facet | Nocciolini, Chiara Cucini, Claudio Leo, Chiara Francardi, Valeria Dreassi, Elena Carapelli, Antonio |
author_sort | Nocciolini, Chiara |
collection | PubMed |
description | Protozoa, of the taxon Gregarinasina, are a heterogeneous group of Apicomplexa that includes ~1600 species. They are parasites of a large variety of both marine and terrestrial invertebrates, mainly annelids, arthropods and mollusks. Unlike coccidians and heamosporidians, gregarines have not proven to have a negative effect on human welfare; thus, they have been poorly investigated. This study focuses on the molecular identification and phylogeny of the gregarine species found in the midgut of two insect species that are considered as an alternative source of animal proteins for the human diet: the mealworm Tenebrio molitor, and the super-worm Zophobas atratus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Gregarine specimens were isolated from the gut of both larval and adult stages of T. molitor specimens, as well as from Z. atratus larvae. The morphological analyses were restricted to the identification of the different parasite morpho-types, likely corresponding either to different life-cycle stages or to alternative gregarine species. The samples were also used for the DNA extraction necessary for their genetic characterization. Finally, the efficiency of different molecular markers (i.e., 18S rDNA gene alone or combined with the Internal Transcribed Spacer 1) was assessed when applied either to gregarine species identification and to phylogenetic inference. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6313518 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-63135182019-01-04 Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut Nocciolini, Chiara Cucini, Claudio Leo, Chiara Francardi, Valeria Dreassi, Elena Carapelli, Antonio Microorganisms Article Protozoa, of the taxon Gregarinasina, are a heterogeneous group of Apicomplexa that includes ~1600 species. They are parasites of a large variety of both marine and terrestrial invertebrates, mainly annelids, arthropods and mollusks. Unlike coccidians and heamosporidians, gregarines have not proven to have a negative effect on human welfare; thus, they have been poorly investigated. This study focuses on the molecular identification and phylogeny of the gregarine species found in the midgut of two insect species that are considered as an alternative source of animal proteins for the human diet: the mealworm Tenebrio molitor, and the super-worm Zophobas atratus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). Gregarine specimens were isolated from the gut of both larval and adult stages of T. molitor specimens, as well as from Z. atratus larvae. The morphological analyses were restricted to the identification of the different parasite morpho-types, likely corresponding either to different life-cycle stages or to alternative gregarine species. The samples were also used for the DNA extraction necessary for their genetic characterization. Finally, the efficiency of different molecular markers (i.e., 18S rDNA gene alone or combined with the Internal Transcribed Spacer 1) was assessed when applied either to gregarine species identification and to phylogenetic inference. MDPI 2018-11-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6313518/ /pubmed/30486465 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6040119 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Nocciolini, Chiara Cucini, Claudio Leo, Chiara Francardi, Valeria Dreassi, Elena Carapelli, Antonio Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut |
title | Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut |
title_full | Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut |
title_fullStr | Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut |
title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut |
title_short | Assessing the Efficiency of Molecular Markers for the Species Identification of Gregarines Isolated from the Mealworm and Super Worm Midgut |
title_sort | assessing the efficiency of molecular markers for the species identification of gregarines isolated from the mealworm and super worm midgut |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6313518/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30486465 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms6040119 |
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