PCR-based determination of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of ribosomal DNA of giant intestinal fluke, Fasciolopsis buski (Lankester, 1857) Looss, 1899

Fasciolopsis buski, the zoonotic intestinal flukes of pigs in South and Southeast Asia, is commonly prevalent in regions across Northeast India. Populations of the fluke collected from different parts of the region exhibit variations in morphology. The main objective of our study was to provide molecular characterization of the parasite so as to supplement morphological criteria, using ribosomal DNA cluster (rDNA), which is flanked by more conserved internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. We describe herein the ITS sequences of the parasite collected from swine hosts of Assam region. The ITS sequences of both egg and adult origins were found to be identical in length and composition. Phylogenetically, F. buski resembles closely the other members of family Fasciolidae, showing significant expectation value in the alignment. The results corroborate that the ITS sequences are not stage specific and are conserved through different stages of development of the fluke, and thus could be used as species markers.