Abstract:
We aimed to investigate the species composition of a small mammal community and the prevalence of Echinococcus spp. in a typical endemic area of the Tibetan Plateau. One pika and five rodent species were identified based on the morphological characteristics of 1278 small mammal specimens collected during 2014-2019. Detection of Echinococcus DNA in tissue samples from small mammal specimens revealed that Ochotona curzoniae (pika, total prevalence: 6.02%, 26/432), Neodon fuscus (5.91%, 38/643), N. leucurus (2.50%, 3/120), and Alexandromys limnophilus (21.74%, 10/46) were infected by both E. multilocularis and E. shiquicus; Cricetulus longicaudatus (16.67%, 1/6) was infected by E. shiquicus; and no infection was detected in N. irene (0/15). Neodon fuscus and O. curzoniae were the two most abundant small mammal species. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of pika and the overall rodent species assemblage (6.26%, 53/846); however, the larger rodent populations suggested that more attention should be paid to their role in the transmission of echinococcosis in the wildlife reservoir, which has long been underestimated. Moreover, although DNA barcoding provides a more efficient method than traditional morphological methods for identifying large numbers of small mammal samples, commonly used barcodes failed to distinguish the three Neodon species in this study. The close genetic relationships between these species suggest the need to develop more powerful molecular taxonomic tools.
摘要:
我们旨在调查小型哺乳动物群落的物种组成和棘球蚴的患病率。在典型的青藏高原特有地区。根据2014-2019年收集的1278个小哺乳动物标本的形态特征,鉴定了一种鼠兔和五种啮齿动物。检测来自小哺乳动物标本的组织样本中的棘球蚴DNA,揭示了Ochotonacurzonium(pika,总患病率:6.02%,26/432),Neodonfuscus(5.91%,38/643),白尿菌(2.50%,3/120),和Alexandromyslimnophilus(21.74%,10/46)同时感染了多房大肠杆菌和shiquicus;Cricetuluslongicaudatus(16.67%,1/6)被shiquicus感染;在N.Irene中未检测到感染(0/15)。Neodonfuscus和O.curzoni是两种最丰富的小型哺乳动物。鼠兔的患病率和总体啮齿动物种类组合没有显着差异(6.26%,53/846);然而,更多的啮齿动物表明,应该更多地关注它们在野生动物水库中传播包虫病的作用,长期以来一直被低估。此外,尽管DNA条形码提供了一种比传统的形态学方法更有效的方法来识别大量的小型哺乳动物样本,在这项研究中,常用的条形码未能区分三种Neodon物种。这些物种之间密切的遗传关系表明需要开发更强大的分子分类学工具。