New member of Plasmodium (Vinckeia) and Plasmodium cyclopsi discovered in bats in Sierra Leone - nuclear sequence and complete mitochondrial genome analyses.
Int J Parasitol
; 54(10): 475-484, 2024 Aug.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38762159
ABSTRACT
Malaria remains the most important arthropod-borne infectious disease globally. The causative agent, Plasmodium, is a unicellular eukaryote that develops inside red blood cells. Identifying new Plasmodium parasite species that infect mammalian hosts can shed light on the complex evolution and diversity of malaria parasites. Bats feature a high diversity of microorganisms including seven separate genera of malarial parasites. Three species of Plasmodium have been reported so far, for which scarce reports exist. Here we present data from an investigation of Plasmodium infections in bats in the western Guinean lowland forest in Sierra Leone. We discovered a new Plasmodium parasite in the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus landeri. Plasmodium cyclopsi infections in a member of leaf-nosed bats, Doryrhina cyclops, exhibited a high prevalence of 100%. Phylogenetic analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes and nine nuclear markers recovered a close relationship between P. cyclopsi and the new Plasmodium parasite with the rodent species Plasmodium berghei, a widely used in vivo model to study malaria in humans. The data suggests that the "rodent/bat" Plasmodium (Vinckeia) clade represents a diverse group of malarial parasites that would likely expand with a systematic sampling of small mammals in tropical Africa. Identifying the bat Plasmodium repertoire is central to our understanding of the evolution of Plasmodium parasites in mammals.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Filogenia
/
Plasmodium
/
Quirópteros
/
Genoma Mitocondrial
/
Malária
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article