Korean J Parasitol.  2020 Feb;58(1):87-91. 10.3347/kjp.2020.58.1.87.

Morphological and Molecular Confirmation of Parvatrema duboisi Metacercariae in the Manila Clam Ruditapes philippinarum from Gochang-gun, Korea

• Chang T
• Jung BK
• Shin H
• Hong S
• Lee J
• Kim DG
• Patarwut L
• Sohn WM
• Chai JY

• KMID: 2501963
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2020.58.1.87

Abstract

Gymnophallid metacercariae found in the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum (‘Banjirak’ in Korean) from Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea were morphologically and molecularly confirmed to be Parvatrema duboisi (Dollfus, 1923) Bartoli, 1974. The metacercariae were morphologically characterized by having a large oral sucker, small ventral sucker, genital pore some distance anterior to the ventral sucker, no ventral pit, and 1 compact or slightly lobed vitellarium, which were all compatible with P. duboisi. Some of the metacercariae were experimentally fed to mice, and adult flukes were recovered at day 7 post-infection. The morphology of the adult flukes was basically the same as that of the metacercariae except for the presence of uterine eggs; the uterus was filled with up to 40 eggs. The nucleotide sequences (1,193 bp) from ITS regions (ITS1, 5.8S rDNA, and ITS2) of the metacercariae showed 99.7% identity with P. duboisi and 75.7% identity with Gymnophalloides seoi deposited in GenBank. These results confirmed the presence of P. duboisi metacercariae in the Manila clam R. philippinarum in an estuary region of Gochang-gun, Korea.

Keyword

gymnophallid; Manila clam; Gochang-gun; Korea