UMR PIMIT "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical", INSERM 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Université de La Réunion, 97490, Sainte Clotilde, La Réunion, France.
Association Vahatra, BP 3972, 101, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Malar J. 2018 Aug 31;17(1):318. doi: 10.1186/s12936-018-2461-8.
Bats are home to diverse haemosporidian parasites namely Plasmodium and Plasmodium-related. While information is available at a worldwide level, haemosporidian infection in bats from Madagascar is still scarce and recent changes in the taxonomy of the island's bat fauna, particularly the description of several new species, require a reassessment of previously described patterns, including blood parasite ecology and vectorial transmission.
A sample representing seven of the nine known bat families and 31 of the 46 currently recognized taxa from Madagascar and collected in the western and central portions of the island were screened by PCR for the presence of Polychromophilus. In addition, Nycteribiidae flies parasitizing Miniopteridae and Vespertilionidae were screened for parasites with the aim to better understand aspects of vector transmission. Phylogenetic reconstruction using the mitochondrial cytochrome b encoding gene was used in a Bayesian analysis to examine the relationship between Polychromophilus recovered from Malagasy bats and those identified elsewhere.
Polychromophilus infection was restricted to Miniopterus spp. (Miniopteridae), Myotis goudoti (Vespertilionidae), and Paratriaenops furculus (Rhinonycteridae), with an overall infection rate of 13.5%. Polychromophilus melanipherus was found infecting Miniopterus spp. and P. furculus, whereas Polychromophilus murinus was only recovered from M. goudoti. These two protozoan parasites species were also detected in bat flies species known to parasitize Miniopterus spp. and M. goudoti, respectively. Generalized linear model analyses were conducted to elucidate the effect of species and sex on haemoparasites infection in Miniopterus spp., which revealed that males have higher risk of infection than females and prevalence differed according to the considered Miniopterus host. Molecular screening of nycteribiid flies revealed three positive species for Polychromophilus spp., including Penicillidia sp. (cf. fulvida), Penicillidia leptothrinax, and Nycteribia stylidiopsis. These three fly species are known to parasitize Miniopterus spp. and M. goudoti and should be considered as potential vectors of Polychromophilus spp.
Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated the existence of at least four distinct clades within the genus Polychromophilus, two of which were documented in the present study. The screening of nycteribiid flies overlaid on the highly diversified genus Miniopterus, provides considerable insight into parasite transmission, with bat infection being associated with their roosting behaviour and the occurrence of specific arthropod vectors.
蝙蝠是多种血孢子虫寄生虫的宿主，包括疟原虫和疟原虫相关寄生虫。虽然在全球范围内有相关信息，但马达加斯加蝙蝠的血孢子虫感染仍然很少，并且该岛蝙蝠动物群的分类学最近发生了变化，特别是描述了几个新物种，这需要重新评估以前描述的模式，包括血液寄生虫生态学和媒介传播。
从马达加斯加西部和中部采集了代表已知的 9 种蝙蝠科和目前 46 种中 31 种的样本，通过 PCR 检测是否存在 Polychromophilus。此外，还对寄生在 Miniopteridae 和 Vespertilionidae 上的 Nycteribiidae 蝇进行了寄生虫筛查，目的是更好地了解媒介传播的各个方面。使用线粒体细胞色素 b 编码基因的系统发育重建在贝叶斯分析中用于检查从马达加斯加蝙蝠中回收的 Polychromophilus 与其他地方鉴定的 Polychromophilus 之间的关系。
Polychromophilus 感染仅限于 Miniopterus spp.（Miniopteridae）、Myotis goudoti（Vespertilionidae）和 Paratriaenops furculus（Rhinonycteridae），总感染率为 13.5%。Polychromophilus melanipherus 被发现感染 Miniopterus spp.和 P. furculus，而 Polychromophilus murinus 仅从 M. goudoti 中回收。这两种原生动物寄生虫也在已知寄生 Miniopterus spp.和 M. goudoti 的蝙蝠蝇种中被检测到。为了阐明物种和性别对 Miniopterus spp. 血液寄生虫感染的影响，进行了广义线性模型分析，结果表明雄性感染的风险高于雌性，并且根据所考虑的 Miniopterus 宿主，流行率有所不同。对 nycteribiid 蝇的分子筛查显示，有三种 Polychromophilus spp. 呈阳性，包括 Penicillidia sp.（cf. fulvida）、Penicillidia leptothrinax 和 Nycteribia stylidiopsis。这三种蝇种已知寄生 Miniopterus spp.和 M. goudoti，应被视为 Polychromophilus spp. 的潜在媒介。
系统发育分析表明，Polychromophilus 属内至少存在四个不同的分支，其中两个在本研究中得到了记录。对 nycteribiid 蝇的筛查叠加在高度多样化的 Miniopterus 属上，对寄生虫传播提供了相当深入的了解，蝙蝠感染与它们的栖息行为以及特定节肢动物媒介的发生有关。
