Multiple lineages of the mitochondrial gene NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (ND1) in parasitic helminths: Implications for molecular evolutionary studies of facultatively anaerobic eukaryotes

The task of using partial ND1 sequences to infer a phylogeny for species of the genus Paragonimus (Trematoda: Digenea) was complicated by the discovery of at least two ND1 lineages within individual worms. The divergence of the ND1 lineages is shown by phylogenetic analysis not only to predate the divergence of the three Paragonimus species or species groups investigated but also the divergence of some trematode families. Some sequences are clearly pseudogenes as they contain single base deletions and/or premature termination codons. The presence of both pseudogenes and/or mitochondrial heteroplasmy are invoked to explain the presence of multiple and divergent ND1 Lineages in these trematodes, which have two distinct cytochemical types of mitochondria. The implications for phylogenetic studies generally and of parasitic helminths specifically, using ND1 sequence data, are discussed. The ability of these organisms to adapt their metabolic processes to the variable availability of oxygen as an electron acceptor are proposed to explain some of the molecular diversity observed in parasitic helminths and possibly also in other anaerobically adapted eukaryotes.