A genetically distinct Schistosoma from Radix luteola from Nepal related to Schistosoma turkestanicum: A phylogenetic study of schistosome and snail host.

During a survey of freshwater snails in the Terai region of southern Nepal, 16 of 2588 specimens of Radix luteola from 4 different habitats were found to be shedding schistosome cercariae. None of the 1411 specimens of Radix acuminata we collected were positive for schistosomes. Analysis of 28S, cox1, 16S and 12S sequences indicated that all the R. luteola-derived schistosomes were genetically very similar to one another and, although unambiguously grouping most closely to the widespread Asian species Schistosoma turkestanicum, were clearly genetically distinct from it. We lack information from other life cycle stages to verify the specific identity of these cercariae, but it is possible they are of Schistosoma bomfordi or Schistosoma dattai, both species previously known only from northern India, the latter species known to infect R. luteola. This study provides sequence evidence for a third genetically distinct lymnaeid-transmitted Schistosoma lineage in Asia (to go along with S. turkestanicum and S. incognitum). As a close relative of S. turkestanicum, it provides the first direct molecular evidence to accompany morphological results from earlier studies for the presence of a S. turkestanicum species group in Asia. It increases to five the number of known or suspected mammalian schistosome species to be present in the Terai region of Nepal. Radix luteola and R. acuminata were identified and differentiated using conchological features and by molecular phylogenetic analyses of cox1 and 16S genes.