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Genetic diversity, fixation and differentiation of the freshwater snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Gastropoda, Planorbidae) in arid lands

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Abstract

The freshwater snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi is the main intermediate host of human intestinal Bilharziasis. It is widely distributed in Africa, Madagascar and middle-eastern countries, and its habitat includes wetlands, and arid to semi-arid areas. Based on analysis of 18 microsatellites, we investigated reference allelic variation among 30 populations of B. pfeifferi from three drainage basins in Dhofar, Oman (the eastern limit of its distribution). This is an arid to semi-arid region, with a 9,000-year history of very low rainfall, but is subject to unpredictable and destructive flash floods. In this context we showed that genetic fixation was very high compared to genetic differentiation which was moderate and, that, relative to B. pfeifferi populations from wetlands, the populations in Dhofar show evidence of lower levels of genetic diversity, a higher degree of genetic fixation, a quasi-absence of migration, and a higher level of genetic drift. Despite the extreme conditions in the Dhofar habitat of this species, it is able to survive because of its very high self-fertilization (approaching 100 %) and fecundity rates.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. We thank the staff of the Meteorological Station of Salalah for providing climatological data. This research was financially supported by the Sultan Qaboos University, the Ministry of Health in Oman, the French CNRS, and the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The French Laboratory is a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Biological Control and Snail/Parasite relationships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, Ecologie et Evolution des Interactions, UMR 5244, 52 avenue Paul Alduy, Perpignan, 66860, France

    Rodrigue Mintsa Nguema, Juliette Langand, Richard Galinier, Hélène Moné & Gabriel Mouahid

  2. CNRS, Ecologie et Evolution des Interactions, UMR 5244, 52 avenue Paul Alduy, Perpignan, 66860, France

    Rodrigue Mintsa Nguema, Juliette Langand, Richard Galinier, Hélène Moné & Gabriel Mouahid

  3. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

    Mohamed A. Idris

  4. Ministry of Health, Muscat, Oman

    Mahmoud A. Shaban

  5. Sultan Qaboos Hospital, Directorate General of Health Services, Dhofar Governorate, Salalah, Sultanate of Oman

    Salem Al Yafae

Authors
  1. Rodrigue Mintsa Nguema
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  2. Juliette Langand
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  3. Richard Galinier
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  4. Mohamed A. Idris
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  5. Mahmoud A. Shaban
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  6. Salem Al Yafae
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  7. Hélène Moné
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  8. Gabriel Mouahid
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriel Mouahid.

Additional information

Rodrigue Mintsa Nguema and Juliette Langand contributed equally to this work. Hélène Moné and Gabriel Mouahid contributed equally to this work.

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10709_2013_9715_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Characteristics of the microsatellite loci: repeated pattern, sequences of forward (F) and reverse (R) primers (from 5′ to 3′) and amplicon size range (in base pairs) obtained for each locus of 16 microsatellite loci of Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Bpf4, Bpf8, Bpf9, Bpf10, Bpf12, U-2, U-7, rg1-rg9) and 2 microsatellite loci of B. glabrata (Bgµ16, µBg1) (DOC 44 kb)

Allelic frequencies at each microsatellite locus and population (DOC 260 kb)

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Mintsa Nguema, R., Langand, J., Galinier, R. et al. Genetic diversity, fixation and differentiation of the freshwater snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi (Gastropoda, Planorbidae) in arid lands. Genetica 141, 171–184 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-013-9715-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-013-9715-8

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