MITOCHONDRIAL GENE SEQUENCES AMONG DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL ISOLATES OF SCHISTOSOMA JAPONICUM IN YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA.

In order to evaluate differentiate genetic differences among Schistosoma japonicum isolates from Dali Ancient City, Xizhou and Yongsheng County, Yunnan Province, China, mitochondrial col, cytb, nd1, nd6, and nd4l were PCR amplified and sequenced, revealing nucleotide difference(s) among these strains of 8, 1, 5, 4, and 0, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that S. japonicum from the three different geographical locations of Yunnan Province were clustered genetically together and were more similar to S. malayensis and S. mekongi than S. haematobium or S. mansoni. For intra-species differentiation purposes, Schistosoma mitochondrial col, nd1, and nd6 are better genetic markers than cytb and nd41.