2026-10-16T08:43:36Z https://data.mendeley.com/oai

oai:data.mendeley.com/822rxwph9t.1 2026-03-30T15:14:31Z

Abbas, Muhammad Limited genetic structure and high gene flow in Fasciola hepatica populations infecting ruminants in different geographic areas in the UK Mendeley Data The liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, is a major parasitic threat to ruminant health and productivity worldwide, with important implications for food security, animal welfare, and zoonotic risk. This study developed and validated a multiplex deep amplicon sequencing assay targeting the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 1 (mt-ND1) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (mt-COX1) loci for high-throughput genotyping of F. hepatica. DNA was extracted from eggs sedimented from sheep and cattle faeces (n = 78) received from farms and from adult worm pools (n = 12) isolated at abattoirs from diverse regions across the UK. Following high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics analysis was performed to demultiplex Illumina sequence reads and extract amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). A total of 11 ASVs were identified at each locus (mt-ND1: 264–279 bp; mt-COX1: 312–319 bp), with two or three predominant ASVs per locus, along with rare variants. Network and PCA analyses revealed two distinct clusters at the mt-ND1 locus: one primarily associated with sheep and another shared between sheep and cattle. In contrast, mt-COX1 sequence reads formed a single dominant cluster. Population analyses revealed extensive ASV sharing across regions, indicating high gene flow, likely facilitated by livestock movement and parasite adaptation. Population Genetics Mitochondrial DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction Cattle Sheep United Kingdom Ruminant Fasciola hepatica Illumina MiSeq Amplicon Sequencing Kozel, Kezia Selemetas, Nick Daramola, Olukayode Morgan, Eric R Chaudhry, Umer Betson, Martha Dataset doi:10.17632/822rxwph9t.1 oai:data.mendeley.com/822rxwph9t.1 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/822rxwph9t 2026-03-30T15:14:31Z