{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T18:46:03Z","timestamp":1790793963596,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]],"date-time":"2021-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007583","name":"Alberta Conservation Association","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["10010809"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10010809"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007583","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000038","name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["10013904"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10013904"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000038","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004489","name":"Mitacs","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["10018836"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10018836"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004489","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Elanco Canada","award":["10017067"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10017067"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000038","name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["RGPIN-2018-03913"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RGPIN-2018-03913"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000038","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:italic>Echinococcus multilocularis<\/jats:italic> (<jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic>) is a zoonotic parasite considered a global emergent pathogen. Recent findings indicate that the parasite is expanding its range in North America and that European-type haplotypes are circulating in western Canada. However, genetic analyses are usually conducted only on a few parasites out of thousands of individuals within each definitive host, likely underestimating the prevalence of less common haplotypes. Moreover, mixed infections with several mtDNA haplotypes in the same host have been reported, but their relative abundance within the host was never estimated. We aimed to 1) estimate the frequency of co-infections of different <jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic> haplotypes in coyotes (<jats:italic>Canis latrans<\/jats:italic>) and red foxes (<jats:italic>Vulpes vulpes<\/jats:italic>) from western Canada and their relative abundance within the definitive hosts, 2) detect less prevalent haplotypes by sampling a larger proportion of the parasite subpopulation per host, and 3) investigate differences in the distribution of <jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic> haplotypes in these main definitive hosts; foxes and coyotes. We extracted DNA from ~10% of the worm subpopulation per host (20 foxes and 47 coyotes) and used deep amplicon sequencing (NGS technology) on four loci, targeting the most polymorphic regions from the mitochondrial genes <jats:italic>cox1<\/jats:italic> (814 bp), <jats:italic>nad1<\/jats:italic> (344 bp), and <jats:italic>cob<\/jats:italic> (387 bp). We detected the presence of mixed infections with multiple <jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic> haplotypes and with different <jats:italic>Echinococcus<\/jats:italic> species including <jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>E<\/jats:italic>. <jats:italic>granulosus s<\/jats:italic>.<jats:italic>l<\/jats:italic>. genotypes G8\/G10, low intraspecific diversity of <jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic>, and a higher abundance of the European-type haplotypes in both hosts. Our results suggest a population expansion of the European over the North American strain in Alberta and a limited distribution of some European-type haplotypes. Our findings indicate that deep amplicon sequencing represents a valuable tool to characterize <jats:italic>Em<\/jats:italic> in multiple hosts, to assess the current distribution and possible origins of the European strain in North America. The potential use of next-generation sequencing technologies is particularly important to understand the patterns of geographic expansion of this parasite.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0009428","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]],"date-time":"2021-05-26T17:40:11Z","timestamp":1622050811000},"page":"e0009428","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Deep amplicon sequencing highlights low intra-host genetic variability of Echinococcus multilocularis and high prevalence of the European-type haplotypes in coyotes and red foxes in Alberta, Canada"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2512-1573","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maria A.","family":"Santa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrew M.","family":"Rezansoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6057-9569","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rebecca","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6787-4699","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"John S.","family":"Gilleard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6097-5841","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Marco","family":"Musiani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2949-242X","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Kathreen E.","family":"Ruckstuhl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Massolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"pntd.0009428.ref001","article-title":"Multicriteria-based ranking for risk management of food-borne parasites","author":"FAO\/WHO","year":"2014","journal-title":"424 Rome"},{"key":"pntd.0009428.ref002","author":"RCA Thompson","year":"2017","journal-title":"Echinococcus and Echinococcosis, Part A: Academic PressAvailable from:"},{"key":"pntd.0009428.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"315","DOI":"10.1016\/bs.apar.2016.11.001","volume-title":"Echinococcus and Echinococcosis, Part A. 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