Staff directory
Tine Huyse
Biology
Invertebrates
Invertebrates
Publication details
Huyse, T., Van den Broeck, F., Hellemans, B., Volckaert, F. & Polman, K. 2013. ‘Hybridisation between the two major African schistosome species of humans’. International Journal for Parasitology 43: 687-689. (PR).
Article in a scientific Journal / Article in a Journal
It is generally accepted that Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium, causing intestinal and urinary schistosomiasis, respectively, are not able to hybridise, due to the high phylogenetic distance between them. Cloning of nuclear internal transcribed spacer rDNA and partial mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 fragments revealed two internal transcribed spacer rDNA genotypes within single eggs and miracidia, one identical to S. mansoni and the other identical to S. haematobium, suggesting hybrid ancestry. The cytochrome c oxidase 1 clones always belonged to only one of the parental species. This demonstrates that offspring of heterologous pairing between these two species is not (always) parthenogenetic.