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Molecular characterization of Hysterothylacium aduncum (Nematoda: Raphidascaridae) from different fish caught off the Tunisian coast based on nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences

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Abstract

Larval forms of the genus Hysterothylacium have been previously reported in teleost fish from the North African coasts of central Mediterranean Sea by morphological analysis. In the present study, samples identified morphologically as Hysterothylacium aduncum (n = 62), from Merluccius merluccius, Trachurus mediterraneus and Pagellus erythrinus from different geographical locations of the Tunisian coasts, were genetically characterised by sequences of the first (ITS-1), the 5.8S and second (ITS-2) Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA). Comparison of the sequences obtained with those available in public gene databases confirmed that all the samples from the Tunisian coasts belong to a single species, namely H. aduncum. All specimens from the Tunisian coasts showed one indel in position 787 in ITS-2 sequences not reported by any of the previously published sequences from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) and the East Greenland Sea, suggesting the existence of a population-specific pattern exhibiting a low differentiation of this parasite in this area. This is the first molecular characterization of H. aduncum from the Tunisian coasts using ITS rDNA sequences which allows the definition of genetic markers for their unequivocal identification, and provides further biological data on these nematodes in marine fish off the Tunisian coasts, improving the picture of the occurrence of these taxa in the North African coasts of central Mediterranean Sea.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to two anonymous referees, whose comments and suggestions were very useful in improving the MS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Recherche: Génétique, Biodiversité et Valorisation des Bioressources UR/09-30, Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia

    Nabil Amor, Sarra Farjallah & Khaled Said

  2. Unité de Recherche: Génétique, Biodiversité et Valorisation des Bioressources UR/09-30, Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia

    Sarra Farjallah

  3. Sezione di Parassitologia e Malattie Parassitarie Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Sardaigne, Italy

    Paolo Merella

  4. Institut Supérieur des Sciences et Technologies de l’Environnement de Borj Essedria, Borj Essedria, Tunisia

    Badreddine Ben Slimane

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  1. Nabil Amor
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  2. Sarra Farjallah
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  3. Paolo Merella
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  5. Badreddine Ben Slimane
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Correspondence to Sarra Farjallah.

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N. Amor and S. Farjallah contributed equally to this work.

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Amor, N., Farjallah, S., Merella, P. et al. Molecular characterization of Hysterothylacium aduncum (Nematoda: Raphidascaridae) from different fish caught off the Tunisian coast based on nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences. Parasitol Res 109, 1429–1437 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-011-2391-7

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