Coevolutionary analyses of the relationships between piroplasmids and their hard tick hosts |
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| Authors: | Huitian Gou Guiquan Guan Aihong Liu Miling Ma Ze Chen Zhijie Liu Qiaoyun Ren Youquan Li Jifei Yang Hong Yin Jianxun Luo |
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| Affiliation: | State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Key Laboratory of Grazing Animal Diseases MOA, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, , Lanzhou, Gansu, 730046 China |
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| Abstract: | Host–parasite coevolution is a key driver of biological diversity. To examine the evolutionary relationships between piroplasmids and their hard tick hosts, we calculated the molecular clock and conducted phylogenetic analyses of both groups. Based on our results, we conclude that the divergence time of piroplasmids (~56 Mya) is later than divergence time of their hard tick hosts (~86 Mya). From analyses of the evolution of both piroplasmid and vector lineages and their association, we know that hard ticks transmit piroplasmids with high genus specificity and low species specificity. |
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| Keywords: | Coevolution
COI
hard tick piroplasmid |
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