First report of pre-Hispanic Fasciola hepatica from South America revealed by ancient DNA

BELTRAME, MARÍA ORNELLA; PEREZ, ALBERTO; SANABRIA RODRIGO; PRUZZO, CESAR; MORA, SEBASTIÁN

PARASITOLOGY

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2019 vol. 147 p. 371 - 375

0031-1820

It is generally assumed that the digenean human liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, gained entry toSouth America during the 15th century upon arrival of Europeans and their livestock.Nonetheless in Patagonia, Argentina, digenean eggs similar to F. hepatica have been observedin deer coprolites dating back to 2300 years B.P. The main objective of our present study wasto identify and characterize these eggs using an ancient DNA (aDNA) study. Eggs were isolated and used for aDNA extraction, amplification and sequencing of partial regions from thecytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenasesubunit 1 mitochondrial genes. Also, phylogenetic trees were constructed using Bayesianand maximum likelihood. Our results confirm the presence of F. hepatica in SouthAmerica from at least 2300 years B.P. This is the first report and the first aDNA study ofthis trematode in South America prior to the arrival of the European cattle in the 15th century. The present work contributes to the study of phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographicalaspects of F. hepatica and its settlement across America.