@article {6509, title = {Large-scale and small-scale population genetic structure of the medically important gastropod species Bulinus truncatus (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia)}, volume = {15}, year = {2022}, month = {Sep-19-2022}, abstract = {

Abstract Background Gastropod snails remain strongly understudied, despite their important role in transmitting parasitic diseases. Knowledge of their distribution and population dynamics increases our understanding of the processes driving disease transmission. We report the first study to use high-throughput sequencing (HTS) to elucidate the population genetic structure of the hermaphroditic snail Bulinus truncatus (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) on a regional (17\–150\ km) and inter-regional (1000\–5400\ km) scale. This snail species acts as an intermediate host of Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis, which cause human and animal schistosomiasis respectively. Methods Bulinus truncatus snails were collected in Senegal, Cameroon, Egypt and France and identified through DNA barcoding. A single-end genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) library, comprising 87 snail specimens from the respective countries, was built and sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. Reads were mapped against S. bovis and S. haematobium reference genomes to identify schistosome infections, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were scored using the Stacks pipeline. These SNPs were used to estimate genetic diversity, assess population structure and construct phylogenetic trees of B. truncatus. Results A total of 10,750 SNPs were scored and used in downstream analyses. The phylogenetic analysis identified five clades, each consisting of snails from a single country but with two distinct clades within Senegal. Genetic diversity was low in all populations, reflecting high selfing rates, but varied between locations due to habitat variability. Significant genetic differentiation and isolation by distance patterns were observed at both spatial scales, indicating that gene flow is not strong enough to counteract the effects of population bottlenecks, high selfing rates and genetic drift. Remarkably, the population genetic differentiation on a regional scale (i.e. within Senegal) was as large as that between populations on an inter-regional scale. The blind GBS technique was able to pick up parasite DNA in snail tissue, demonstrating the potential of HTS techniques to further elucidate the role of snail species in parasite transmission. Conclusions HTS techniques offer a valuable toolbox to further investigate the population genetic patterns of intermediate schistosome host snails and the role of snail species in parasite transmission. Graphical Abstract

}, issn = {1756-3305}, doi = {10.1186/s13071-022-05445-x}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-022-05445-x}, author = {Maes, Tim and De Corte, Zo{\"e} and Vangestel, Carl and Virgilio, Massimiliano and Smitz, Nathalie and Djuikwo-Teukeng, F{\'e}licit{\'e} F. and Papadaki, Maria Ioanna and Huyse, Tine} } @article {6507, title = {DNA barcoding echinoderms from the East Coast of South Africa. The challenge to maintain DNA data connected with taxonomy}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {17}, year = {2022}, month = {Oct-10-2022}, pages = {e0270321}, abstract = {

Echinoderms are marine water invertebrates that are represented by more than 7000 extant species, grouped in five classes and showing diverse morphologies (starfish, sea lilies, feather stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, brittle and basket stars). In an effort to further study their diversity, DNA barcodes (DNA fragments of the 5\’ end of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene, COI) have been used to complement morphological examination in identifying evolutionary lineages. Although divergent clusters of COI sequences were reported to generally match morphological species delineations, they also revealed some discrepancies, suggesting overlooked species, ecophenotypic variation or multiple COI lineages within one species. Here, we sequenced COI fragments of 312 shallow-water echinoderms of the East Coast of South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal Province) and compared morphological identifications with species delimitations obtained with four methods that are exclusively based on COI sequences. We identified a total of 103 morphospecies including 18 that did not exactly match described species. We also report 46 COI sequences that showed large divergences (\>5\% p-distances) with those available to date and publish the first COI sequences for 30 species. Our analyses also identified discordances between morphological identifications and COI-based species delimitations for a considerable proportion of the morphospecies studied here (49/103). For most of them, further investigation is necessary to keep a sound connection between taxonomy and the growing importance of DNA-based research.

}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0270321}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270321}, author = {Sonet, Gontran and Smitz, Nathalie and Vangestel, Carl and Samyn, Yves}, editor = {Chiang, Tzen-Yuh} } @article {4699, title = {Phylogenetic analysis of the Baikalodrilus species flock (Annelida: Clitellata: Naididae), an endemic genus to Lake Baikal (Russia)Abstract}, journal = {Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society}, volume = {187}, year = {2019}, month = {May-09-2019}, pages = {987 {\textendash} 1015}, issn = {0024-4082}, doi = {10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz066}, url = {https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz066/5560176}, author = {Martin, Patrick and Sonet, Gontran and Smitz, Nathalie and Backeljau, Thierry} } @article {4686, title = {A genome-wide data assessment of the African lion (Panthera leo) population genetic structure and diversity in Tanzania}, journal = {PLOS ONE}, volume = {13}, year = {2018}, month = {Jul-11-2018}, pages = {e0205395}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0205395}, url = {http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205395}, author = {Smitz, Nathalie and Jouvenet, Olivia and Ambwene Ligate, Fredrick and Crosmary, William-George and Ikanda, Dennis and Chardonnet, Philippe and Fusari, Alessandro and Meganck, Kenny and Gillet, Fran{\c c}ois and Melletti, Mario and Michaux, Johan R.}, editor = {Chiang, Tzen-Yuh} }