Molecular identification of Austrobilharzia species parasitizing Cerithidea cingulata (Gastropoda: Potamididae) from Kuwait Bay

Avian schistosomes belonging to the genus Austrobilharzia (Digenea: Schistosomatidae) are among the causative agents of cercarial dermatitis in humans. In this paper, ribosomal and mitochondrial DNA sequences were used to study schistosome cercariae from Kuwait Bay that have been identified morphologically as Austrobilharzia sp. Sequence comparison of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) 28S and 18S regions of the collected schistosome cercariae with corresponding sequences of other schistosomes in GenBank revealed high sequence similarity. This confirmed the morphological identification of schistosome cercariae from Kuwait Bay as belonging to the genus Austrobilharzia. The finding was further supported by the phylogenetic tree that was constructed based on the combined data set 18S-28S-mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCO1) sequences in which Austrobilharzia sp. clustered with A. terrigalensis and A. variglandis. Sequence comparison of the Austrobilharzia sp. from Kuwait Bay with A. variglandis and A. terrigalensis based on mtCO1 showed a variation of 10% and 11%, respectively. Since the sequence variation in the mtCO1 was within the interspecific range among trematodes, it seems that the Austrobilharzia species from Kuwait Bay is different from the two species reported in GenBank, A. terrigalensis and A. variglandis.