Prevalence and phylogeography ofmetacestodes from goats of India.

Abstract

The study determined the prevalence and genetic population structure relationships of(metacestode) retrieved from the goats slaughtered in north India. An overall prevalence of 9.62% (59/613) was recorded. Genetic population structure relationships were assessed by targeting partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 mitochondrial gene sequence. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that all the present study representative isolates (= 7) formed a major clade and grouped withisolates retrieved from sheep, goats, pigs and dogs, originating from China, Iran, Nigeria, Ghana and Poland. However, a single isolate from Himachal Pradesh (isolate 3) formed a subgroup within the clade. The neutrality and diversity indices revealed high values of haplotype diversity [Hd = 0.99695 (0.95238–1.0000)] and low nucleotide diversity (= 0.49276), which was indicative of demographic expansion and low gene flow, suggesting that Indianisolates were not genetically differentiated. Tajima's(−1.26988) and Fu and Li'sstatistics values (−0.74556) were negative, demonstrating deviations from neutrality and both propounded recent population expansion or purifying selection. Results highlighted a low genetic diversity ofmetacestodes across the geographical range of north India.