Sequencing and characterization of the complete mitochondrial genome from the pancreatic fluke Eurytrema pancreaticum (trematoda: Dicrocoeliidae)

The trematode Eurytrema pancreaticum is a parasite of ruminant pancreatic and bile ducts, and also occasionally infects humans, causing eurytremiasis. In spite of it being a common fluke of cattle and sheep in endemic regions, little is known about the genomic resources of the parasite. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial (mt) genome of E. pancreaticum. It is 15,031bp in size, and encodes 36 genes: 12 protein-coding genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. The E. pancreaticum mt gene order is the same as that of Dicrocoelium chinensis and Dicrocoelium dendriticum, and all genes are transcribed in the same direction. Phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated amino acid sequences of 12 protein-coding genes by Bayesian inference shows that E. pancreaticum is closely related to D. chinensis and other members of the family Dicrocoeliidae with strong posterior probability support. The E. pancreaticum mt genome should prove to be a useful resource for comparative mt genomic studies of digenetic trematodes, and will provide a rich source of DNA markers for studies into the systematics, epidemiology, and population genetics of this parasite and other digenean trematodes.