Insight into the Genetic Relationship of Fasciola gigantica Inferred from LSU and ITS1 Ribosomal DNA

Abstract

Current understanding of the level of genetic diversity in Fasciola gigantica is limited. For the first time we explore the level of molecular diversity of the flukes using all available LSU and ITS1 genes on GenBank. The LSU datasets revealed a higher molecular diversity in F. gigantica (H, 14; S, 195; Hd, 0.816; π, 0.13663; K, 55.19786) in comparison to the ITS1 datasets (H, 12; S, 53; Hd, 0.237; π, 0.00570; K, 2.04531). Overall intraspecific variability based on the ITS1 marker was 0.006 while the LSU was 0.142. Network analysis based on the LSU revealed two major F. gigantica lineages; China-Niger lineage which showed >172 mutational changes in relation to a lineage comprising of sequences from nine other countries.