The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Eimeria leuckarti (Eimeriidae, Coccidia, Apicomplexa) infecting domestic horses (Equus ferus caballus)

The complete mitochondrial genome of Eimeria leuckarti (Eimeriidae, Coccidia, Apicomplexa) was obtained. This morphologically distinctive coccidium is considered to be the only valid Eimeria species of equids and it infects a range of both domestic and wild horses and their relatives. Despite the distinctive appearance of the oocysts of E. leuckarti, the mitochondrial genome organization and gene contents were comparable to other Eimeria spp. and related eimeriid coccidia infecting a range of mammals and birds. The greatly reduced 6242 bp genome is circular-mapping and contains three protein-coding genes (COI, COIII, CytB), 18 fragments encoding the large subunit rRNA (LSU), and 13 fragments encoding the small subunit (SSU) rRNA. No tRNA was encoded similar to other Apicomplexa. A Bayesian inference tree based on aligned CDS and rDNA fragments from Eimeria leuckarti and 34 other coccidia demonstrated that this mt genome has close phylogenetic affinities to Eimeria and Isospora species, and related eimeriid coccidia.

Automated summary

The complete mitochondrial genome of Eimeria leuckarti, a distinct coccidium species that infects horses, was obtained. Despite its unique appearance, the mitochondrial genome structure and gene contents of E. leuckarti are comparable to other Eimeria species. Phylogenetic analysis showed close affinities between the mt genome of E. leuckarti and other related coccidia species.