Molecular characterization of the Indian poultry nodular tapeworm, Raillietina echinobothrida (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea: Davaineidae) based on rDNA internal transcribed spacer 2 region.

The nodular tapeworm, Raillietina echinobothrida is a well studied avian gastrointestinal parasite of family Davaineidae (Cestoda: Cyclophyllidea). It is reported to be the largest in size and second most prevalent species infecting chicken in north-east India. In the present study, morphometrical methods coupled with the molecular analysis of the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region of ribosomal DNA were employed for precise identification of the parasite. The annotated ITS2 region was found to be 446 bp long and further utilized to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships and its species-interrelationships at the molecular level. In phylogenetic analysis similar topology was observed among the trees obtained by distance-based neighbor-joining as well as character-based maximum parsimony tree building methods. The query sequence R. echinobothrida is well aligned and placed within the Davaineidae group, with all Raillietina species well separated from the other cyclophyllidean (taeniid and hymenolepid) cestodes, while Diphyllobothrium latum (Pseudophyllidea: Diphyllobothriidae) was rooted as an out-group. Sequence similarities indeed confirmed our hypothesis that Raillietina spp. are neighboring the position with other studied species of order Cyclophyllidea against the out-group order Pseudophyllidea. The present study strengthens the potential of ITS2 as a reliable marker for phylogenetic reconstructions.