Tomé Beatriz, Rato Catarina, Harris D James, Perera Ana
* CIBIO, InBIO - Research Network in Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
J Parasitol. 2016 Aug;102(4):476-80. doi: 10.1645/15-908. Epub 2016 Feb 2.
: Hemogregarines are the most-commonly reported hemoparasites in reptiles. In this work we analyzed samples from 572 individuals of 6 species of the wall gecko genus Tarentola from European and African countries adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea as well as from the Macaronesian islands. Screening was done using hemogregarine-specific primers for the 18S rRNA gene. Positive amplifications were sequenced so that the diversity of the hemogregarines from these hosts could be assessed within a phylogenetic framework. The results from the phylogenetic analysis showed that within Tarentola, the detected parasites are comprised of at least 4 distinct main lineages of Hepatozoon spp. In clades A and B, the new sequences clustered closely together with the ones previously known from individuals of the genus Tarentola and other species of geckos but also with those from other vertebrate host groups including skinks, snakes, iguanids, and rodents. Clade C included a sample from Tarentola angustimentalis of the Canary Islands. This sequence is the first molecular characterization of these hemogregarines in this archipelago. Until now, this lineage had only been found in lacertids, skinks, and snakes, so this infection extends the host range for this clade. Lastly, in the newly detected clade D, the retrieved parasite sequences form a group currently identified as exclusive of geckos. Our results show that geckos of Tarentola spp. harbor a great diversity of hemogregarines but also that further sampling and other tools, including a multi-locus approach using faster-evolving genetic markers, and identification of definitive hosts are needed to better understand the biology, diversity, and distribution of these parasites.
血簇虫是爬行动物中最常被报道的血液寄生虫。在这项研究中，我们分析了来自地中海周边欧洲和非洲国家以及马卡罗尼西亚群岛的6种睑虎属（Tarentola）572个个体的样本。使用针对18S rRNA基因的血簇虫特异性引物进行筛选。对阳性扩增产物进行测序，以便在系统发育框架内评估这些宿主的血簇虫多样性。系统发育分析结果表明，在睑虎属中，检测到的寄生虫至少由4个不同的肝簇虫属主要谱系组成。在进化枝A和B中，新序列与先前从睑虎属个体和其他壁虎物种中已知的序列紧密聚集在一起，但也与来自其他脊椎动物宿主群体（包括石龙子、蛇、鬣蜥和啮齿动物）的序列聚集在一起。进化枝C包括来自加那利群岛的狭睑虎（Tarentola angustimentalis）的一个样本。该序列是该群岛这些血簇虫的首次分子特征描述。到目前为止，这个谱系只在蜥蜴、石龙子和蛇中发现过，所以这种感染扩大了这个进化枝的宿主范围。最后，在新检测到的进化枝D中，检索到的寄生虫序列形成了一个目前被确定为仅属于壁虎的群体。我们的结果表明，睑虎属壁虎携带多种血簇虫，但也需要进一步采样和其他工具，包括使用进化更快的遗传标记的多位点方法，以及确定终末宿主，以更好地了解这些寄生虫的生物学、多样性和分布。
