Department of Parasitology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Francis Addy
Faculty of Biosciences, Department of Biotechnology and Molecular Biology, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana
Ludmila Kokolova
Yakut Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Yakutsk, Russia
Innokentiy Okhlopkov
Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Yakutsk, Russia
Sarah Leibrock
Department of Parasitology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Jenny Oberle
Department of Parasitology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Antti Oksanen
Finnish Food Authority, Animal Health Diagnostic Unit (FINPAR), Oulu, Finland
Thomas Romig
Department of Parasitology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Echinococcus canadensis consists of 4 genotypes: G6, G7, G8 and G10. While the first 2 predominantly infect domestic animals, the latter are sylvatic in nature involving mainly wolves and cervids as hosts and can be found in the northern temperate to Arctic latitudes. This circumstance makes the acquisition of sample material difficult, and little information is known about their genetic structure. The majority of specimens analysed to date have been from the European region, comparatively few from northeast Asia and Alaska. In the current study, Echinococcus spp. from wolves and intermediate hosts from the Republic of Sakha in eastern Russia were examined. Echinococcus canadensis G10 was identified in 15 wolves and 4 cervid intermediate hosts. Complete mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) sequences were obtained from 42 worm and cyst specimens from Sakha and, for comparison, from an additional 13 G10 cysts from Finland. For comparative analyses of the genetic diversity of G10 of European and Asian origin, all available cox1 sequences from GenBank were included, increasing the number of sequences to 99. The diversity found in northeast Asia was by far higher than in Europe, suggesting that the geographic origin of E. canadensis (at least of G10) might be northeast Asia.
