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Title: MOLECULAR DELINEATION OF CYATHOSTOME SPECIES

Author
item MCDONNELL, A - UNIV GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
item LOVE, S - UNIV GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
item TAIT, A - UNIV GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
item Lichtenfels, James
item MCKEAND, J - UNIV GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

Submitted to: British Society for Parasitology
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cyathostomes are parasitic nematodes which inhabit the intestines of the horses. Horses infected with these parasites may present with a variety of clinical syndromes; the most severe being larval cyathostomiasis, resulting in death in over 50 per cent of cases, despite intensive anthelminthic treatment and supportive care. Over 40 species of cyathostomes have been reported in the litera- ture based on morphological criteria. It is currently only possible to reliably differentiate the adult stages of these parasites to species level, retrospectively, at post-mortem. Attention is therefore being focused on the development of antemortem diagnostic tests which could be applied at all stages of the parasite lifecycle to determine which species are responsible for clinical disease. Molecular genetic approaches have revolutionized the study of population biology and taxonomy in recent years. Mitochondrial DNA sequence data has been widely employed to resolve relationships among species and genera of parasitic helminths. A portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) gene has been sequenced to determine the systematics of 7 common, morphologically-identified cyathostome species, isolated from a local horse population. Species-specific differences have been determined from sequence data for further development as an aid to diagnosis in clinical disease.