Tostes Raquel, Dias Roberto Júnio Pedroso, Martinele Isabel, Senra Marcus Vinicius Xavier, D'Agosto Marta, Massard Carlos Luiz
Pós-graduação em Ciências Veterinárias, Instituto de Veterinária, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, Rio de Janeiro, 23890-000, Brazil.
Laboratório de Protozoologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas- Comportamento e Biologia Animal, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, 36036-900, Brazil.
Parasitol Res. 2017 Jul;116(7):1887-1897. doi: 10.1007/s00436-017-5465-3. Epub 2017 May 5.
Haemosporidian blood parasites of the Plasmodium genus are the causative agents of avian malaria in many parts of the world. Despite the great diversity of Brazilian avifauna, few studies have been conducted to examine the haemosporidians of wild birds found in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, especially those kept in captivity. This study aimed to re-examine and further characterize the South American avian parasite Plasmodium paranucleophilum using a multidisciplinary approach. Blood samples were collected from 68 captive birds representing 15 species found in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. Morphometric and morphological characterization was performed, in addition to PCR and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and subsequent phylogenetic analysis. The overall prevalence of P. paranucleophilum infection in the study was 13.23% (n = 9), with a mean parasitemia of 0.58%. We observed the highest parasitemia of 3.88% in Rupornis magnirostris. In our phylogenetic analysis, P. paranucleophilum and P lasmodium nucleophilum formed distinct, highly supported clades, with a mean genetic divergence of 2.48%. This study provides new morphological and molecular data, expanding our knowledge of the haemosporidians of wild birds in Brazil and highlighting the need for further investigation. The true depth of diversity in Brazilian avian haemosporidians remains largely unknown, and given the enormous variety of vectors and avian species, there may be many more species of these blood parasites yet to be described.
疟原虫属的血孢子虫血液寄生虫是世界许多地区鸟类疟疾的病原体。尽管巴西鸟类种类繁多，但很少有研究对巴西大西洋森林中发现的野生鸟类的血孢子虫进行检测，尤其是那些圈养的鸟类。本研究旨在采用多学科方法重新检测并进一步描述南美鸟类寄生虫嗜核疟原虫。从代表巴西东南部大西洋森林中发现的15个物种的68只圈养鸟类采集血液样本。除了对线粒体细胞色素b基因进行PCR和测序以及随后的系统发育分析外，还进行了形态测量和形态特征描述。本研究中嗜核疟原虫感染的总体患病率为13.23%（n = 9），平均寄生虫血症为0.58%。我们观察到巨嘴鸟的寄生虫血症最高，为3.88%。在我们的系统发育分析中，嗜核疟原虫和嗜核疟原虫形成了不同的、得到高度支持的进化枝，平均遗传差异为2.48%。本研究提供了新的形态学和分子数据，扩展了我们对巴西野生鸟类血孢子虫病的认识，并强调了进一步调查的必要性。巴西鸟类血孢子虫的真正多样性深度在很大程度上仍然未知，鉴于载体和鸟类物种的种类繁多，可能还有许多种这些血液寄生虫有待描述。
