Relationships among Sarcocystis species transmitted by New World opossums (Didelphis spp.)

At least three species of Sarcocystis (S. neurona, S. falcatula, S. speeri) have recently been shown to use opossums of the genus Didelphis as their definitive host. In order to evaluate the evolutionary relationships among Sarcocystis spp. isolates from the Americas, and to determine whether organisms representing the same parasite lineages are transmitted north and south of the Panamanian isthmus, we inferred the phylogenetic relationships from nucleotide sequence variation in parasites isolated from three opossum species (D. virginiana, D. albiventris, D. marsupialis). In particular, we used variation in the 25/396 marker to compare several isolates from Brazil, Argentina, and the United States to each other and to cloned S. neurona and S. falcatula whose morphology and host affinities have been defined in the laboratory. S. neurona was identified from a Brazilian D. albiventris, as well as from North American D. virginiana. Parasites resembling the Cornell isolate of S. falcatula are transmitted both south and north of the Panamanian isthmus by D. albiventris and D. virginiana, respectively. Distinct attributes at two genetic loci differentiated a Brazilian isolate of S. falcatula from all other known parasite lineages. We confirm S. neurona as the causative agent of recently reported neurologic disease in Southern sea otters, Enhydra lutris nereis. And we found that S. speeri could not be compared to the other opossum-derived Sarcocystis isolates on the basis of nucleotide variation at the 25/396 locus. The widespread distribution of certain species of Sarcocystis may derive from their ability to parasitize migratory bird hosts in their intermediate stage.