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Genetic diversity of Biomphalaria pfeifferi, the intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni in Shamva district, Zimbabwe: role on intestinal schistosomiasis transmission

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Abstract

The fresh water snail Biomphalaria pfeifferi is the intermediate host for Schistosoma mansoni, which causes human intestinal schistosomiasis in Zimbabwe. Despite the medical importance of this intermediate host, there are no current data on its molecular characterization in Zimbabwe. In 2016, human water contact sites were identified in four communities in Madziwa area, Shamva district, Zimbabwe. The survey sites were recorded and mapped using a global positioning system. A 655 bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene was amplified in 70 B. pfeifferi snails. The sequence data were analysed to determine the relationships between the individual snails, their inter, intra population diversity and structure. Overall, four unique cox1 haplotypes, with a haplotype diversity of 0.608, were identified in the snails. One haplotype spanned across most of the sites. There was no clear geographical clustering of haplotypes. The mean diversity among the haplotypes was very low (0.009), while the net divergence among the collection sites ranged from 0.000 to 0.026. The diversity within and between the sites was 0.017 and 0.012 respectively. This data advances our knowledge of the understanding of the population structure of B. pfeifferi in Madziwa area, Zimbabwe, with the high occurrence of one haplotype indicating the possibility of a recent bottleneck followed by population expansion. The population genetic structure of B. pfeifferi snails described here has provided an opportunity to investigate the contribution of snail genetics to variation in disease burden; and development of control strategies that exploit genetic differences in susceptibility to parasites.

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Data availability

The datasets analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Cox1:

Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Madziwa area community leaders, the village heads and the community residents for allowing us to work in the area. We are also grateful to the village health workers from the communities under study for their assistance in data collection. Acknowledgement also goes to Professor Jinhu Chen and Dr Kassergene D. Vera for their support during laboratory analysis of samples.

Funding

This study was partly funded by the Thrasher Research Fund (12440).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe, Avondale, P. O. Box A178, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Masceline Jenipher Mutsaka-Makuvaza, Justen Manasa, Nyasha Chin’ombe & Nicholas Midzi

  2. Ministry of Health and Child Care, National Institute of Health Research, Causeway, P.O. Box CY573, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Masceline Jenipher Mutsaka-Makuvaza

  3. Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Shanghai, 200025, China

    Xiao-Nong Zhou & Eniola Abe

  4. Ministry of Health and Child Care, Mashonaland Central Provincial Health Office, Bindura, Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe

    Cremance Tshuma

  5. Geography Department, Faculty of Science, Bindura University of Science Education, Bag 1020, Bindura, Zimbabwe

    Tawanda Manyangadze

  6. Department of Public Health Medicine, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Tawanda Manyangadze

  7. Wolfson Wellcome Biomedical Laboratories, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History 14 Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Fiona Allan & Bonnie Webster

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  1. Masceline Jenipher Mutsaka-Makuvaza
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Contributions

MJM NM and XNZ conceived the study. MJM, NM and CT undertook fieldwork. MJM, NM, and EA performed the laboratory analysis. MJM, BW, JM, TM, FA and NM analysed the data. MJM wrote the initial draft of the manuscript. NM, BW, XNZ, NC, EA, FA, TM and CT reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas Midzi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests.

Ethical approval

Prior to the commencement of the study, approval was obtained from the community leaders in the area. Ethical clearance of the study was sought from the Joint Research Ethics Committee (JREC) for the University of Zimbabwe, College Of Health Sciences, and the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals (JREC/251/16). Further approval was sought from the national ethical review board, the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (MRCZ) (MRCZ/A/2149). The communities were sensitized about the nature of the study and study objectives in local language (Shona). All applicable international, national and institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Mutsaka-Makuvaza, M.J., Zhou, XN., Tshuma, C. et al. Genetic diversity of Biomphalaria pfeifferi, the intermediate host of Schistosoma mansoni in Shamva district, Zimbabwe: role on intestinal schistosomiasis transmission. Mol Biol Rep 47, 4975–4987 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-05541-0

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