First report of Metastrongylus pudendotectus by the genetic characterization of mitochondria genome of cox1 in pigs from Tibet, China

• A high infecting rate of lungworms was found in Tibetan pig.
• A fragment (∼450 bp) of the cox1 of mitochondrial (mt) gene was successfully amplified.
• The lungworms infecting Tibetan pigs is Metastrongylus pudendotectus.

Lungworms, a world wild distributed parasites cause serious respiratory diseases to the pigs. A high infection rate of Metastrongylus lungworms has been found in Tibetan pigs being slaughtered in different slaughter houses of Tibet autonomous region. The main aim of our study was to detect and confirm the lungworm parasite by the genetic characterization of mitochondrial cox1genome isolated from the lungs of Tibetan pig. The adult lungworms were collected from the lungs of slaughtered pigs and identification was done through morphological examinations. Total genomic DNA of the extracted worms was performed and a fragment (∼450 bp) of the cox1 of mitochondrial (mt) gene was amplified. Amplicons were cloned into PGEM®-T Easy vector and the positive clones were sequenced from a commercial company. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis were performed by software of DNAMAN and MEGA respectively. The results revealed that the lungworms infecting the Tibetan pigs were Metastrongylus pudendotectus (M. pudendotectus). To our knowledge, this is the first report for the isolation and identification for the genetic characterization of mitochondria (mt) genome of cox1 of M. pudendotectus derived from Tibetan pigs in Tibet, China.