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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
The mitochondrial genome of the chimpanzee louse, Pediculus schaeffi: insights into the process of mitochondrial genome fragmentation in the blood-sucking lice of great apes
BMC Genomics, Vol.16, pp.1-8
2015
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Background: Blood-sucking lice in the genera Pediculus and Pthirus are obligate ectoparasites of great apes. Unlike most bilateral animals, which have 37 mitochondrial (mt) genes on a single circular chromosome, the sucking lice of humans have extensively fragmented mt genomes. The head louse, Pediculus capitis, and the body louse, Pe. humanus, have their 37 mt genes on 20 minichromosomes. The pubic louse, Pthirus pubis, has its 34 mt genes known on 14 minichromosomes. To understand the process of mt genome fragmentation in the sucking lice of great apes, we sequenced the mt genome of the chimpanzee louse, Pe. schaeffi, and compared it with the three human lice. Results: We identified all of the 37 mt genes typical of bilateral animals in the chimpanzee louse; these genes are on 18 types of minichromosomes. Seventeen of the 18 minichromosomes of the chimpanzee louse have the same gene content and gene arrangement as their counterparts in the human head louse and the human body louse. However, five genes, cob, trnS 1 , trnN, trnE and trnM, which are on three minichromosomes in the human head louse and the human body louse, are together on one minichromosome in the chimpanzee louse. Conclusions: Using the human pubic louse, Pt. pubis, as an outgroup for comparison, we infer that a single minichromosome has fragmented into three in the lineage leading to the human head louse and the human body louse since this lineage diverged from the chimpanzee louse ~6 million years ago. Our results provide insights into the process of mt genome fragmentation in the sucking lice in a relatively fine evolutionary scale.
Details
- Title
- The mitochondrial genome of the chimpanzee louse, Pediculus schaeffi: insights into the process of mitochondrial genome fragmentation in the blood-sucking lice of great apes
- Authors
- Kate E Herd (Author) - University of QueenslandStephen C Barker (Author) - University of QueenslandRenfu Shao (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering
- Publication details
- BMC Genomics, Vol.16, pp.1-8
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Date published
- 2015
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12864-015-1843-3
- ISSN
- 1471-2164
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2015 Herd et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450191602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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