Valkiūnas Gediminas, Zehtindjiev Pavel, Dimitrov Dimitar, Krizanauskiene Asta, Iezhova Tatjana A, Bensch Staffan
Institute of Ecology, Vilnius University, Akademijos 2, Vilnius LT 08412, Lithuania.
Parasitol Res. 2008 May;102(6):1185-93. doi: 10.1007/s00436-008-0892-9. Epub 2008 Feb 13.
Numerous lineages of avian malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium have been deposited in GenBank. However, only 11 morphospecies of Plasmodium have been linked to these lineages. Such linking is important because it provides opportunities to combine the existing knowledge of traditional parasitology with novel genetic information of these parasites obtained by molecular techniques. This study linked one mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene lineage with morphospecies Plasmodium (Huffia) elongatum, a cosmopolitan avian malaria parasite which causes lethal disease in some birds. One species of Plasmodium (mitochondrial cyt b gene lineage P-GRW6) was isolated from naturally infected adult great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and inoculated to one naive juvenile individual of the same host species. Heavy parasitaemia developed in the subinoculated bird, which enabled identification of the morphospecies and deposition of its voucher specimens. The parasite of this lineage belongs to P. elongatum. Illustrations of blood stages of this parasite are given. Other lineages closely related to P. elongatum were identified. The validity of the subgenus Huffia is supported by phylogenetic analysis. Mitochondrial cyt b gene lineages, with GenBank accession nos. AF069611 and AY733088, belong to Plasmodium cathemerium and P. elongatum, respectively; these lineages have been formerly attributed to P. elongatum and P. relictum, respectively. Some other incorrect species identifications of avian haematozoa in GenBank have been identified. We propose a strategy to minimise the number of such mistakes in GenBank in the future.
疟原虫属的众多鸟类疟原虫谱系已保存在基因库中。然而，只有11种疟原虫形态种与这些谱系相关联。这种关联很重要，因为它提供了将传统寄生虫学的现有知识与通过分子技术获得的这些寄生虫的新遗传信息相结合的机会。本研究将一个线粒体细胞色素b（cyt b）基因谱系与形态种长形疟原虫（Huffia）联系起来，长形疟原虫是一种世界性的鸟类疟原虫，可在某些鸟类中引起致命疾病。从自然感染的成年大苇莺（Acrocephalus arundinaceus）中分离出一种疟原虫（线粒体cyt b基因谱系P-GRW6），并接种到同一宿主物种的一只未感染的幼年个体中。接种的鸟类出现了严重的寄生虫血症，这使得能够鉴定形态种并保存其凭证标本。该谱系的寄生虫属于长形疟原虫。给出了这种寄生虫血液阶段的图示。还鉴定了与长形疟原虫密切相关的其他谱系。系统发育分析支持了Huffia亚属的有效性。基因库登录号为AF069611和AY733088的线粒体cyt b基因谱系分别属于昼夜疟原虫和长形疟原虫；这些谱系以前分别被归为长形疟原虫和残疟原虫。还发现了基因库中一些其他关于禽血孢子虫的错误物种鉴定。我们提出了一种策略，以尽量减少未来基因库中此类错误的数量。
