Mitogenomic exploration supports the historical hypothesis of anthropogenic diffusion of a zoonotic parasite Echinococcus multilocularis
Naoki Hayashi,
Ryo Nakao,
Yuma Ohari,
Takao Irie,
Hirokazu Kouguchi,
Elisha Chatanga,
Wessam Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed,
Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed Moustafa,
Gohta Kinoshita,
Munehiro Okamoto,
Kinpei Yagi,
Nariaki Nonaka
Affiliations
Naoki Hayashi
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan
Ryo Nakao
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan; Corresponding author
Yuma Ohari
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan
Takao Irie
Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitic Diseases, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen-Kibanadai-Nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan
Hirokazu Kouguchi
Department of Infectious Diseases, Hokkaido Institute of Public Health, N 19 W 12, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0819, Japan
Elisha Chatanga
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan; Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe P.O. Box 219, Malawi
Wessam Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan; Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8525, USA
Mohamed Abdallah Mohamed Moustafa
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan; Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA; Department of Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt
Gohta Kinoshita
Ecological Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan
Munehiro Okamoto
Section of Molecular Biology, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
Kinpei Yagi
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan
Nariaki Nonaka
Laboratory of Parasitology, Department of Disease Control, Graduate School of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, N 18 W 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan
Summary: Animal movement across regions owing to human activity can lead to the introduction of pathogens, resulting in disease epidemics with medical and socioeconomic significance. Here, we validated the hypothesis that human activity, such as the transportation of infected animals, has played a significant role in introducing the zoonotic parasite Echinococcus multilocularis into Hokkaido, Japan, by synthesizing and evaluating parasite genetic data in light of historical records. Our analysis indicates that a major genetic group in Hokkaido originated from St. Lawrence Island, USA, which is in accordance with the route suggested by historical descriptions. Moreover, we identified a minor genetic group closely related to parasites found in Sichuan, China. This fact implies that parasite invasion in Japan may result from complex and inadvertent animal translocations. These findings emphasize the anthropogenic impacts on zoonotic parasite spread and provide a crucial perspective for preventing future potential epidemics.
