Metabarcoding gastrointestinal nematodes in sympatric endemic and non-endemic species in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

• Published in: International Journal of Primatology
• Main Authors: Aivelo, Tuomas Juho Eero, Medlar, Alan John, Löytynoja, Ari Pekka, Laakkonen, Juha Tapio, Jernvall, Jukka Tapani
• Other Authors: Institute of Biotechnology, Biosciences, Ari Pekka Löytynoja / Principal Investigator, Bioinformatics, Departments of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Biosciences, Veterinary Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Jukka Jernvall / Principal Investigator, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), Computational genomics, Global Change and Conservation Lab, Teachers' Academy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SPRINGER NEW YORK LLC 2020
• Subjects: 1181 Ecology; evolutionary biology; Invasive species; Lemurs; Metabarcoding; Noninvasive sampling; Parasites; ALOUATTA-PALLIATA-MEXICANA; NONINVASIVE ASSESSMENT; RAIN-FORESTS; DNA BARCODE; BIODIVERSITY; TRANSMISSION; COMMUNITIES; POPULATIONS; DIVERSITY; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10138/311338

Sympatric species are known to host the same parasites species. Nevertheless, surveys examining parasite assemblages in sympatric species are rare. To understand how parasite assemblages in sympatric host species differ in a given locality, we used a noninvasive identification method based on high-throughput sequencing. We collected fecal samples from sympatric species in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, from September to December in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and identified their parasites by metabarcoding, sequencing a region of the small ribosomal subunit (18S) gene. Our survey included 11 host species, including endemic primates, rodents, frogs, gastropods, and nonendemic rats and dogs. We collected 872 samples, of which 571 contained nematodes and 249 were successfully sequenced. We identified nine putative species of parasites, although their correspondence to actual parasite species is not clear as the resolution of the marker gene differs between nematode clades. For the host species that we successfully sampled with 10 or more positive occurrences of nematodes, i.e., mouse lemurs (Microcebus rufus), black rats (Rattus rattus), and frogs (Anura), the parasite assemblage compositions differed significantly among host species, sampling sites, and sampling years. Our metabarcoding method shows promise in interrogating parasite assemblages in sympatric host species and our results emphasize the importance of choosing marker regions for parasite identification accuracy. Peer reviewed