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Equus roundworms (Parascaris spp.) are undergoing divergence due to natural and anthropogenic factors
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  • Lei Han,
  • Tianming Lan,
  • Yaxian Lu,
  • Mengchao Zhou,
  • Haimeng Li,
  • Haorong Lu,
  • Qing Wang,
  • Xiuyun Li,
  • Shan Du,
  • Chunyu Guan,
  • Yong Zhang,
  • Sunil Sahu,
  • Puyi Qian,
  • Shaofang Zhang,
  • Hongcheng Zhou,
  • Wei Guo,
  • Hongliang Chai,
  • Sibo Wang,
  • Quan Liu,
  • Huan Liu,
  • Zhijun Hou
Lei Han
Northeast Forestry University
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Tianming Lan
State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen
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Yaxian Lu
Northeast Forestry University
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Mengchao Zhou
Northeast Forestry University
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Haimeng Li
BGI-Shenzhen
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Haorong Lu
State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genomics, BGI-Shenzhen
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Qing Wang
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Xiuyun Li
Harbin northern forest zoo
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Shan Du
Inner Mongolia Agriculture University
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Chunyu Guan
Harbin northern forest zoo
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Yong Zhang
893386379@qq.comCenter for Animal Disease Control and Prevention of Ordos
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Sunil Sahu
BGI-Shenzhen
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Puyi Qian
BGI-Shenzhen
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Shaofang Zhang
BGI-Shenzhen
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Hongcheng Zhou
BGI-Shenzhen
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Wei Guo
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Harbin Veterinary Research Institute
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Hongliang Chai
Northeast Forestry University
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Sibo Wang
BGI-Shenzhen
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Quan Liu
Northeast Forestry University
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Huan Liu
University of Copenhagen
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Zhijun Hou
Northeast Forestry University

Corresponding Author:houzhijundb@163.com

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Abstract

The evolution of parasites is often directly affected by the host’s environment or behavior. Studies on the evolution of the same parasites in different hosts are extremely attractive and highly relevant to our understanding of divergence and speciation. Here we analyzed the genetic variation of Equus roundworm populations in different hosts (horses, zebras and donkeys), and presented the first molecular evidence of divergence in Equus roundworms (Parascaris univalens). At the genetic level, Equus roundworms were mainly separated into two clades (Horse-derived and Zebra & Donkey-derived). This divergence began at 600-1500 years ago, which interestingly coincided with the domestication history of horses. We found that compared with horse-derived roundworms, most of the key enzymes related to glycolysis were under strong positive selection in zebra & donkey-derived roundworms, indicating that the evolution of the metabolic level was one of the main reasons for the divergence. In addition, we conducted a selective scan of resistance-related genes and found that the three populations were under different degrees of selection. This prompted us to pay attention to the possible impact of drugs on divergence, not just the drug resistance. This work supports that divergence or speciation is a continuous and dynamic process, and continuous monitoring of environmental factors is conducive to further understanding the adaptive evolution of roundworms.