Madeline Giner, from the University of Texas at San Antonio, studied the phylogenetics of Dracunculus in the lab of Dr. Christopher Cleveland.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Dracunculus <\/em>genus contains parasitic nematodes that infect a\nvariety of hosts, including reptiles and mammals. Dracunculus medinensis<\/em>, the Guinea worm, has gained much attention\ndue to its history of infecting humans. Less studied are other dracunculids,\nincluding Dracunculus insignis <\/em>and D. lutrae<\/em> which are native to North\nAmerica. D<\/em>. insignis <\/em>can infect a variety of mammalian hosts, whereas D. lutrae<\/em> specifically infects North\nAmerican river otters (Lontra canadensis<\/em>).\nThe goal of this project was to investigate the genetic diversity of Dracunculus <\/em>in wildlife species from the\nEastern USA and investigate spatial and host patterns of infection.\nPhylogenetic relationships were examined using the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI)\ngene targets. We hypothesized otters would predominantly have D. lutrae<\/em>, and D. insignis<\/em> would be identified from other hosts. Our experimental\nmethods included DNA extraction, gene-specific amplification (PCR), Sanger\nsequencing, and phylogenetic analysis using the software Geneious. Our results\nindicate that a majority of worms from otters (19\/65), raccoons (Procyon lotor<\/em>, 22\/22), and Virginia opossums\n(Didelphis virginiana<\/em>, 2\/2) were D. insignis<\/em>. However, a worm from an\notter from Florida had 100% identity to a novel Dracunculus<\/em> sp. previously detected in Georgia, and a Georgia otter\nworm is closely related to another novel dracunculid species from Florida. In\nconclusion, D. insignis<\/em> was present\nin most locations and hosts, D. lutrae<\/em>\nis absent, and an additional host is now known for two novel Dracunculus<\/em> species. These data provide\nnew information about Dracunculus<\/em>\ndiversity in US wildlife, but additional investigation is required. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\nGIner<\/a>\n Madeline Giner, from the University of Texas at San Antonio, studied the phylogenetics of Dracunculus in the lab of Dr. Christopher Cleveland. The Dracunculus genus contains parasitic nematodes that infect a variety of hosts, including reptiles and mammals. Dracunculus medinensis, the Guinea worm, has gained much attention due to its history of infecting humans. Less<\/p>\n