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

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107741

Mitogenomic exploration supports the historical hypothesis of anthropogenic diffusion of a zoonotic parasite Echinococcus multilocularis

iScience. 2023 Aug 26;26(10):107741. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107741. eCollection 2023 Oct 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ 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.
² Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitic Diseases, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen-Kibanadai-Nishi, Miyazaki 889-2192, Japan.
³ Department of Infectious Diseases, Hokkaido Institute of Public Health, N 19 W 12, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0819, Japan.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe P.O. Box 219, Malawi.
⁵ Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8525, USA.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
⁷ Department of Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
⁸ Ecological Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan.
⁹ Section of Molecular Biology, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan.

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Biological sciences; Natural sciences; Parasitology.