Data from: Mitochondrial genomes of Australian chicken Eimeria support the presence of ten species with low genetic diversity among strains

Modern molecular approaches have vastly improved diagnostic capabilities
for differentiating among species of chicken infecting Eimeria.
Consolidating information from multiple genetic markers, adding additional
poultry Eimeria species and increasing the size of available data-sets is
improving the resolving power of the DNA, and consequently our
understanding of the genus. This study adds information from 25 complete
mitochondrial DNA genomes from Australian chicken Eimeria isolates
representing all 10 species known to occur in Australia, including OTU-X,
−Y and −Z. The resulting phylogeny provides a comprehensive view of
species relatedness highlighting where the OTUs align with respect to
others members of the genus. All three OTUs fall within the Eimeria clade
that contains only chicken-infecting species with close affinities to E.
maxima, E. brunetti and E. mitis. Mitochondrial genetic diversity was low
among Australian isolates likely reflecting their recent introduction to
the country post-European settlement. The lack of observed genetic
diversity is a promising outcome as it suggests that the currently used
live vaccines should continue to offer widespread protection against
Eimeria outbreaks in all states and territories. Flocks were frequently
found to host multiple strains of the same species, a factor that should
be considered when studying disease epidemiology in the field.