Ancient horizontal transfers of retrotransposons between birds and ancestors of human pathogenic nematodes

Alexander Suh (), Christopher C. Witt, Juliana Menger, Keren R. Sadanandan, Lars Podsiadlowski, Michael Gerth, Anne Weigert, Jimmy A. McGuire, Joann Mudge, Scott V. Edwards and Frank E. Rheindt
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Alexander Suh: Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC), Uppsala University
Christopher C. Witt: University of New Mexico
Juliana Menger: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ)
Keren R. Sadanandan: National University of Singapore
Lars Podsiadlowski: Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Bonn
Michael Gerth: Molecular Evolution and Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig
Anne Weigert: Molecular Evolution and Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig
Jimmy A. McGuire: University of California, Berkeley
Joann Mudge: National Center for Genome Resources
Scott V. Edwards: Harvard University
Frank E. Rheindt: National University of Singapore

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Parasite host switches may trigger disease emergence, but prehistoric host ranges are often unknowable. Lymphatic filariasis and loiasis are major human diseases caused by the insect-borne filarial nematodes Brugia, Wuchereria and Loa. Here we show that the genomes of these nematodes and seven tropical bird lineages exclusively share a novel retrotransposon, AviRTE, resulting from horizontal transfer (HT). AviRTE subfamilies exhibit 83–99% nucleotide identity between genomes, and their phylogenetic distribution, paleobiogeography and invasion times suggest that HTs involved filarial nematodes. The HTs between bird and nematode genomes took place in two pantropical waves, >25–22 million years ago (Myr ago) involving the Brugia/Wuchereria lineage and >20–17 Myr ago involving the Loa lineage. Contrary to the expectation from the mammal-dominated host range of filarial nematodes, we hypothesize that these major human pathogens may have independently evolved from bird endoparasites that formerly infected the global breadth of avian biodiversity.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11396

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