Biomedical subjects

S A Nadler

Publications and source records attributed to S A Nadler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

First report and characterization of adult Uncinaria spp. in New Zealand Sea Lion (Phocarctos hookeri) pups from the Auckland Islands, New Zealand.

Two species of hookworms (Uncinaria lucasi and Uncinaria hamiltoni) have been formally described from pinnipeds, but dissimilar types are noted from these hosts. This report is the first description of hookworms (Uncinaria spp.) from the New Zealand sea lion, Phocarctos hookeri. The nematodes were collected from dead pups on Enderby Island (Auckland Islands, 50 degrees 30', 166 degrees 17') during January and February, 2004. Standard measurements of male and female hookworms were obtained, providing a general morphometric characterization of the hookworm species in P. hookeri. Considerable variations in the body length of adult hookworms were noted within the same host. The arrangement of some of the bursal rays differs from that described for U. lucasi and U. hamiltoni.

Ancylostomatoidea↗

PubMed2005

Revising the standard wisdom of C. elegans natural history: ecology of longevity.

Here, we consider that most of the research concerning Caenorhabditis elegans has been laboratory focused and that only limited research has directly considered the worm's biology relative to its natural history in the wild. We describe that, although the worm has traditionally been considered a soil nematode, we could not find it in soil but frequently recovered it from snails. Finally, we discuss how a better understanding of the natural history of C. elegans may enhance its usefulness as a model organism for studying aging and other phenomena.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Evolution of plant parasitism among nematodes.

Despite extraordinary diversity of free-living species, a comparatively small fraction of nematodes are parasites of plants. These parasites represent at least three disparate clades in the nematode tree of life, as inferred from rRNA sequences. Plant parasites share functional similarities regarding feeding, but many similarities in feeding structures result from convergent evolution and have fundamentally different developmental origins. Although Tylenchida rRNA phylogenies are not fully resolved, they strongly support convergent evolution of sedentary endoparasitism and plant nurse cells in cyst and root-knot nematodes. This result has critical implications for using model systems and genomics to identify and characterize parasitism genes for representatives of this clade. Phylogenetic studies reveal that plant parasites have rich and complex evolutionary histories that involve multiple transitions to plant parasitism and the possible use of genes obtained by horizontal transfer from prokaryotes. Developing a fuller understanding of plant parasitism will require integrating more comprehensive and resolved phylogenies with appropriate choices of model organisms and comparative evolutionary methods.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Phylogeny of Steinernema travassos, 1927 (Cephalobina: Steinernematidae) inferred from ribosomal DNA sequences and morphological characters.

Entomopathogenic nematodes in Steinernema, together with their symbiont bacteria Xenorhabdus, are obligate and lethal parasites of insects that can provide effective biological control of some important lepidopteran, dipteran, and coleopteran pests of commercial crops. Phylogenetic relationships among 21 Steinernema species were estimated using 28S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences and morphological characters. Sequences of the rDNA internal transcribed spacers were obtained to provide additional molecular characters to resolve relationships among Steinernema carpocapsae, Steinernema scapterisci, Steinernema siamkavai, and Steinernema monticolum. Four equally parsimonious trees resulted from combined analysis of 28S sequences and 22 morphological characters. Clades inferred from analyses of molecular sequences and combined datasets were primarily reliably supported as assessed by bootstrap resampling, whereas those inferred from morphological data alone were not. Although partially consistent with some traditional expectations and previous phylogenetic studies, the hypotheses inferred from molecular evidence, and those from combined analysis of morphological and molecular data, provide a new and comprehensive framework for evaluating character evolution of steinernematids. Interpretation of morphological character evolution on 6 trees inferred from sequence data and combined evidence suggests that many structural features of these nematodes are highly homoplastic, and that some structures previously used to hypothesize relationships represent ancestral character states.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Evolution of vulva development in the Cephalobina (Nematoda).

Ventral cord and vulva development are analyzed in a large sample of nematode species of the suborder Cephalobina. We find a specific range of evolutionary variations at distinct developmental steps. (1) Unlike Caenorhabditis elegans and relatives, the vulva is formed from the four precursor cells P(5-8).p or, exceptionally, from P(6, 7).p only. (2) The vulval competence group is restricted to these four cells or is larger. (3) The fates of more anterior and posterior Pn.p cells vary between closely related species (mostly cell death versus epidermal fate). (4) The mechanism of vulval cell fate patterning varies within a single genus, even between strains of the same species. (5) We describe the first example of a vulval cell lineage that is asymmetric between the anterior and the posterior sides of the vulva. For a selection of the investigated taxa, phylogenetic trees were constructed in order to map vulval characters and infer evolutionary polarities. We can conclude that in this group, death of the Pn.p cells probably constitutes a derived character state compared to a syncytial fate. Rhabditophanes sp. and Strongyloides ratti are placed as sister taxa, probably sharing an exclusive common ancestor in which the number of precursor cells forming the vulva was reduced from four to two.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Phylogenetic relationships among species of contracaecum Railliet & Henry, 1912 and Phocascaris Høst, 1932 (Nematoda:Ascaridoidea) based on nuclear rDNA sequence data.

Nuclear-encoded large-subunit ribosomal DNA sequences were used to infer a phylogenetic hypothesis for 17 taxa (16 nominal species) of the genera Contracaecum and Phocascaris. Phylogenetic trees based on these data have been used to assess the validity of the taxonomic distinction between these genera, which was based on the presence or absence of certain structural features, rather than on explicit hypotheses of evolutionary history. Phylogenetic hypotheses based on parsimony, likelihood, and neighbor-joining analyses of these sequence data strongly support the hypothesis that species of Phocascaris are nested within the clade of Contracaecum species hosted by phocid seals, and are more closely related to species of the Contracaecum osculatum complex than to other Contracaecum species. Alternative tree topologies representing Phocascaris as not nested within the C. osculatum complex were significantly worse interpretations of these sequence data. Phylogenetic analysis also provides strong support for the monophyly of all taxa (Contracaecum and Phocascaris) from phocid seals, which is consistent with Berland's (1964) proposal that such species form a natural group; however, his proposal to recognize all species in phocid seals as Phocascaris, with all species from birds as Contracaecum would result in a paraphyletic Contracaecum, according to the molecular phylogenetic hypothesis.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Molecular systematics of Mesocestoides sPP (cestoda: mesocestoididae) from domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and coyotes (Canis latrans).

The genus Mesocestoides Vaillant, 1863 includes tapeworms of uncertain phylogenetic affinities and with poorly defined life histories. We previously documented 11 cases of peritoneal cestodiasis in dogs (Canis familiaris L.) in western North America caused by metacestodes of Mesocestoides spp. In the current study, DNA sequences were obtained from metacestodes collected from these dogs (n = 10), as well as proglottids from dogs (n = 3) and coyotes (Canis latrans Say, 1823 [n = 2]), and tetrathyridia representing laboratory isolates of M. corti (n = 3), and these data were analyzed phylogenetically. Two nuclear genetic markers, 18S ribosomal DNA and the second internal-transcribed spacer (ITS 2), were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis of the 18S rDNA data recovered a monophyletic group composed of all samples of Mesocestoides spp., distinct from closely related outgroup taxa (Amurotaenia Akhmerov, 1941 and Tetrabothrius Rudolphi, 1819). Initial analysis of the ITS 2 data resolved 3 clades within Mesocestoides. Two proglottids from dogs formed a basal clade, a second clade was represented by tetrathyridial isolates, and a third clade included all other samples. Interpretation of these data from an apomorphy-based perspective identified 6 evolutionary lineages. We also assessed whether metacestodes from dogs (n = 4) are capable of asexual proliferation in laboratory mice. One tetrathyridial and 2 acephalic isolates from dogs proliferated asexually. Further investigation is warranted to determine which of the lineages represent distinct species and to determine the life history strategies of Mesocestoides spp.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Phylogeny of the Ascaridoidea (Nematoda: Ascaridida) based on three genes and morphology: hypotheses of structural and sequence evolution.

Ascaridoid nematodes parasitize the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate definitive hosts and are represented by more than 50 described genera. We used 582 nucleotides (83% of the coding sequence) of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase subunit 2, in combination with published small- and large-subunit nuclear rDNA sequences (2,557 characters) and morphological data (20 characters), to produce a phylogenetic hypothesis for representatives of this superfamily. This combined evidence phylogeny strongly supported clades that, with 1 exception, were consistent with Fagerholm's 1991 classification. Parsimony mapping of character states on the combined evidence tree was used to develop hypotheses for the evolution of morphological, life history, and amino acid characters. This analysis of character evolution revealed that certain key features that have been used by previous workers for developing taxonomic and evolutionary hypotheses represent plesiomorphic states. Cytochrome oxidase subunit 2 nucleotides show a strong compositional bias to A+T and a substitution bias to thymine. These biases are most apparent at third positions of codons and 4-fold degenerate sites, which is consistent with the nonrandom substitution pattern of A+T pressure. Despite nucleotide bias, cytochrome oxidase amino acid sequences show conservation and retention of critical functional residues, as inferred from comparisons to other organisms.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2000

Relationships of Nematodirus species and Nematodirus battus isolates (Nematoda: Trichostrongyloidea) based on nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences.

Nuclear ribosomal sequence data from the internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2), 5.8S subunit, and regions of the 18S and 28S genes were used to investigate sequence diversity among geographic samples of Nematodirus battus, and to infer phylogenetic relationships among Nematodirus species. Phylogenetic analysis of these data yielded strong support for relationships among species, depicting Nematodirus helvetianus and Nematodirus spathiger as sister-taxa and a clade of these 2 species and Nematodirus filicollis. This tree is consistent with caprine bovids as ancestral hosts, with a subsequent host shift to Bovinae in N. helvetianus. Eleven of 14 N. battus sequences were unique, with 19 variable sites among sequences representing 5 geographic samples. The lowest number of variable nucleotide sites was observed in samples representing apparently recent introductions to the United States and Canada, which is consistent with a population bottleneck concomitant with translocation. Comparison of directly sequenced polymerase chain reaction products and clones revealed evidence for intraindividual variation at some of the sequence sites, and this pattern of variation and that within geographic samples indicates incomplete rDNA repeat homogenization within species. This pattern of variation is not conducive for inferring phylogenetic relationships among sequences representing N. battus or addressing the putative history of introduction.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Molecular and morphometric evidence for separate species of Uncinaria (Nematoda: Ancylostomatidae) in California sea lions and northern fur seals: hypothesis testing supplants verification.

California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) are each believed to host distinct hookworm species (Uncinaria spp.). However, a recent morphometric analysis suggested that a single species parasitizes multiple pinniped hosts, and that the observed differences are host-induced. To explore the systematics of these hookworms and test these competing hypotheses, we obtained nucleotide sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA (D2/D3 28S, D18/D19 28S, and internal transcribed spacer [ITS] regions) from 20 individual hookworms parasitizing California sea lion and northern fur seal pups where their breeding grounds are sympatric. Five individuals from an allopatric population of California sea lions were also sampled for ITS-1 and D18/D19 28S sequences. The 28S D2/D3 sequences showed no diagnostic differences among hookworms sampled from individual sea lions and fur seals, whereas the 28S D18/D19 sequences had one derived (apomorphic) character demarcating hookworms from northern fur seals. ITS sequences were variable for 7 characters, with 4 derived (apomorphic) states in ITS-1 demarcating hookworms from California sea lions. Multivariate analysis of morphometric data also revealed significant differences between nematodes representing these 2 host-associated lineages. These results indicate that these hookworms represent 2 species that are not distributed indiscriminately between these host species, but instead exhibit host fidelity, evolving independently with each respective host species. This evolutionary approach to analyzing sequence data for species delimitation is contrasted with similarity-based methods that have been applied to numerous diagnostic studies of nematode parasites.

Ancylostomatoidea↗

PubMed1998

Diagnostic procedures and treatment of eleven dogs with peritoneal infections caused by Mesocestoides spp.

An 8-year-old spayed Schnauzer with a distended abdomen was examined because of straining to urinate and suspected urinary tract infection. Abdominal radiography revealed a ground-glass appearance, and ultrasonography revealed numerous cystic structures in the peritoneal cavity. Examination of an aspirate of abdominal fluid revealed tissues consistent with metacestodes. Tissues were definitively identified as Mesocestoides spp on the basis of polymerase chain reaction amplification of restriction fragment length polymorphisms. The dog required several courses of treatment with fenbendazole to eliminate the infection. This was 1 of 11 dogs infected with Mesocestoides metacestodes. Treatment involving the use of praziquantel and albendazole were ineffective, but fenbendazole successfully cleared Mesocestoides infections in 5 of 6 dogs.

Albendazole↗

PubMed1998

Ribosomal DNA and phylogeny of the Ascaridoidea (Nemata: Secernentea): implications for morphological evolution and classification.

Nematodes of the superfamily Ascaridoidea are parasites of the alimentary tract of vertebrates and include species that are of medical and economic importance. Existing evolutionary hypotheses for these organisms have frequently been based on interpretation of one or few "key" structural or life history features. We used nuclear-encoded small (1764 characters) and large subunit (757 characters) ribosomal DNA sequences to estimate the phylogeny of representative taxa from this superfamily. Trees inferred by maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood methods strongly support clades that are primarily consistent with one recent classification of the group. In contrast, most previously proposed phylogenetic hypotheses were significantly worse when compared to the maximum likelihood tree by a statistical method. Hypotheses for the evolution of morphological and life history characters were explored by parsimony mapping these features on several tree topologies, including optimal molecular trees and alternative topologies reflecting traditional expectations deemed not worse in statistical tests. The results identify some consistent putative shared-derived morphological features, but also strongly suggest that some key features emphasized by previous workers represent ancestral states or highly homoplastic characters.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Phylogenetic relationships of the Acanthocephala inferred from 18S ribosomal DNA sequences.

Phylogenetic relationships within the Acanthocephala have remained unresolved. Past systematic efforts have focused on creating classifications with little consideration of phylogenetic methods. The Acanthocephala are currently divided into three major taxonomic groups: Archiacanthocephala, Palaeacanthocephala, and Eoacanthocephala. These groups are characterized by structural features in addition to the taxonomy and habitat of hosts parasitized. In this study the phylogenetic relationships of 11 acanthocephalan species are examined with 18S rDNA sequences. Maximum parsimony, minimum evolution, and maximum likelihood methods are used to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Within the context of sampled taxa, all phylogenetic analyses are consistent with monophyly of the major taxonomic groups of the Acanthocephala, suggesting that the current higher order classification is natural. The molecular phylogeny is used to examine patterns of character evolution for various structural and ecological characteristics of the Acanthocephala. Arthropod intermediate host distributions, when mapped on the phylogeny, are consistent with monophyletic groups of acanthocephalans. Vertebrate definitive host distributions among the Acanthocephala display independent radiations into similar hosts. Levels of uncorrected sequence divergence among acanthocephalans are high; however, relative-rate tests indicate significant departure from rate uniformity among acanthocephalans, arthropods, and vertebrates. This precludes comparison of 18S divergence levels to assess the relative age of the Acanthocephala. However, other evidence suggests an ancient origin of the acanthocephalan-arthropod parasitic association.

Acanthocephala↗

PubMed1997

Leishmania major: comparison of the cathepsin L- and B-like cysteine protease genes with those of other trypanosomatids.

Cysteine proteases play important roles in the pathogenesis of several parasitic infections and have been proposed as targets for the structure-based strategy of drug design. As a first step toward applying this strategy to design inhibitors as antiparasitic agents for leishmaniasis, we have isolated and sequenced the full-length clones of two cysteine protease genes from Leishmania major. One of the genes is structurally similar to the cathepsin L-like family and the other is similar to the cathepsin B-like family of cysteine proteases. The L. major cathepsin L-like sequence has a proregion that shares high sequence similarity with other cathepsin L sequences but not cathepsin B sequences and has a proline/threonine-rich C-terminal extension. The cathepsin L-like gene occurs in multiple copies, whereas there may be only one copy of the cathepsin B-like gene. Northern blot analyses show that both genes are expressed in the promastigote and amastigote stages, and pulse field gel electrophoresis revealed that the cathepsin L- and B-like genes are each found on two nonhomologous chromosomes. The L. major L-like amino acid sequence is 75% identical to the L. mexicana sequence, 74% identical to the L. pifanoi sequence, 47% identical with the Trypanosoma cruzi sequence, 47% identical with the T. congolense sequence, and 45% identical with the T. brucei sequence. L. major is one of two trypanosomatid species for which a cathepsin B-like gene has been identified and sequenced; its amino acid sequence is 82% identical to the one from L. mexicana. Tree inference based on distance and parsimony methods of kinetoplastid cathepsin L proteins yielded independent support for phylogenetic hypotheses inferred from analyses of ribosomal RNA genes. Because the cathepsin L locus has a high level of phylogenetic signal with respect to trypanosomatid taxa, this locus has great potential utility for investigating the evolutionary history of trypanosomatids and related organisms.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1996

Molecular evidence for Acanthocephala as a subtaxon of Rotifera.

Rotifers are free-living animals usually smaller than 1 mm that possess a characteristic wheel organ. Acanthocephalans (thorny-headed worms) are larger endoparasitic animals that use vertebrates and arthropods to complete their life cycle. The taxa Acanthocephala and Rotifera are considered separate phyla, often within the taxon Aschelminthes. We have reexamined the relationship between Rotifera and Acanthocephala using 18S rRNA gene sequences. Our results conclusively show that Acanthocephala is the sister group of the rotifer class Bdelloidea. Rotifera was nonmonophyletic in all molecular analyses, which supports the hypothesis that the Acanthocephala represent a taxon within the phylum Rotifera and not a separate phylum. These results agree with a previous cladistic study of morphological characters.

Acanthocephala↗

PubMed1996

Horseradish curly top virus is a distinct subgroup II geminivirus species with rep and C4 genes derived from a subgroup III ancestor.

The complete nucleotide sequence (3080 nt) of an infectious DNA clone derived from the geminivirus horseradish curly top virus (HrCTV) has been determined. The relationship of HrCTV to other geminiviruses was examined using dot matrix plots of nucleotide sequence similarities, and by phylogeny of predicted amino acid sequences of individual ORFs based upon parsimony or neighbour-joining methods. These analyses indicate that the V1 and V2 virion sense ORFs of HrCTV are most closely related to, yet distinct from, the corresponding ORFs of the subgroup II geminivirus beet curly top virus (BCTV). HrCTV also encodes a third virion sense ORF (V3) which is similar (72-74 percent amino acid identity) to the BCTV V3 ORF; however, the HrCTV V3 ORF has diverged in sequence to a greater extent relative to that observed among isolates of BCTV (98-100% amino acid identity). The HrCTV genome encodes only three complementary sense ORFs (Cl, C2 and C4) and lacks a C3 ORF which is conserved among all other subgroup II and III geminiviruses characterized to date. Although the neighbour-joining analysis indicated that the HrCTV C2 ORF was distantly related to the C2 ORF of BCTV, the predicted amino acid sequence deduced from the HrCTV C2 ORF lacks the characteristic zinc-finger domain present in the transcriptional activating protein (TrAP) encoded by the subgroup III ORF AC2, which is also retained within the TrAP-related product of the BCTV C2 ORF. Surprisingly, the rep and C4 proteins encoded by HrCTV share a closer phylogenetic relationship to the corresponding proteins of the subgroup III geminivirus squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) than to BCTV. These results suggest that the HrCTV genome may have arisen by a recombination event between a BCTV-like subgroup II virus ancestor and an SLCV-like subgroup III virus ancestor. Possible mechanisms that may explain recombination events among geminiviruses are discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1995

Parasitology year 2000.

We predict that in order for parasitology to thrive by the year 2000 the various subdisciplines of evolution, ecology, biosystematics, and genetics must develop holistic approaches and use parasite models to answer basic biological questions. The students of tomorrow must work as part of a multidisciplinary team; and their questions and answers must be conceptually integrated into the broader biological framework of evolution and ecology.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Genetic structure of midwestern Ascaris suum populations: a comparison of isoenzyme and RAPD markers.

Isoenzyme and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to characterize the genetics of geographic variation among population samples of Ascaris suum from midwestern localities. Independent estimates of fixation indices (FST) based on isoenzyme and RAPD markers showed the same general patterns of differentiation and substantial statistical correlation (r = 0.70). Of the total estimated gene diversity, 9.4% (isoenzyme) and 9.2% (RAPD) was distributed among infrapopulations. Geographic localities accounted for 7.8% (isoenzyme) and 6.2% (RAPD) of the total gene diversity. Only infrapopulations from a single farm were characterized by low fixation indices (isoenzyme and RAPD FST < 0.05). Isoenzyme and RAPD markers revealed moderate genetic differentiation among infrapopulations and localities, which indicates significant population subdivision among A. suum from farms within geographic regions. Departures from random mating were revealed by deficiencies of heterozygotes within infrapopulations and by high positive values of FIS among and between infrapopulations. The average inbreeding (FIS) coefficient among all infrapopulations was 0.22. Thus, the genetic composition of these A. suum infrapopulations, whether from a general geographic region of a single farm, was not consistent with a model of random recruitment from a larger panmictic pool of parasite life cycle stages.

Alleles↗