Presidential address: rediscovering parasites using molecular tools – towards revising the taxonomy of Echinococcus, Giardia and Cryptosporidium

Molecular biology has provided parasitologists with a fantastic variety of techniques that have had a major impact on research into parasites and parasitism. Molecular tools have revealed the extent and nature of genetic diversity in parasites and this information has made a significant contribution...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal for parasitology 2002-05, Vol.32 (5), p.493-496
Main Author: Thompson, R.C.Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Cattle
Classification
Cryptosporidium
Cryptosporidium - classification
Cryptosporidium - genetics
Echinococcus
Echinococcus - classification
Echinococcus - genetics
Entamoeba
Entamoeba - classification
Entamoeba - genetics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Giardia
Giardia - classification
Giardia - genetics
History, 20th Century
Humans
Molecular tools
Parasitology - history
Protozoa
Systematics. Geographical distribution. Morphology. Cytology
Taxonomy
Terminology as Topic
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Summary:Molecular biology has provided parasitologists with a fantastic variety of techniques that have had a major impact on research into parasites and parasitism. Molecular tools have revealed the extent and nature of genetic diversity in parasites and this information has made a significant contribution to studies on the population genetics and evolutionary biology of parasites. Similarly, epidemiology has benefited enormously from the application of molecular tools in terms of studying parasite life cycles and transmission, and in the development of specific and sensitive methods for diagnosis and surveillance. However, the theme I wish to develop in this paper is concerned with the contribution molecular tools have made to parasite taxonomy and systematics, and in particular, the fact that in many cases molecular tools are validating the proposals made many years ago by taxonomists and biologists which were discounted or not fully accepted at the time. To do this I have chosen four examples ( Echinococcus, Entamoeba, Giardia, Cryptosporidium) where recent research involving molecular characterisation has confirmed observations made many years ago and has resulted in a need to revise the taxonomy of different groups of parasites.
ISSN:0020-7519
1879-0135
DOI:10.1016/S0020-7519(01)00358-7