Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.
Malar J. 2021 Jun 12;20(1):265. doi: 10.1186/s12936-021-03799-8.
Although avian Plasmodium species are widespread and common across the globe, limited data exist on how genetically variable their populations are. Here, the hypothesis that the avian blood parasite Plasmodium relictum exhibits very low genetic diversity in its Western Palearctic transmission area (from Morocco to Sweden in the north and Transcaucasia in the east) was tested.
The genetic diversity of Plasmodium relictum was investigated by sequencing a portion (block 14) of the fast-evolving merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1) gene in 75 different P. relictum infections from 36 host species. Furthermore, the full-length MSP1 sequences representing the common block 14 allele was sequenced in order to investigate if additional variation could be found outside block 14.
The majority (72 of 75) of the sequenced infections shared the same MSP1 allele. This common allele has previously been found to be the dominant allele transmitted in Europe.
The results corroborate earlier findings derived from a limited dataset that the globally transmitted malaria parasite P. relictum exhibits very low genetic diversity in its Western Palearctic transmission area. This is likely the result of a recent introduction event or a selective sweep.
尽管禽类疟原虫在全球范围内广泛存在且常见，但关于其种群的遗传变异性的数据有限。在这里，检验了一个假设，即禽类血寄生虫疟原虫 relicta 在其西古北区传播区域（北至摩洛哥，东至外高加索地区）的遗传多样性非常低。
通过对来自 36 种宿主的 75 种不同疟原虫 relicta 感染的快速进化的裂殖体表面蛋白 1（MSP1）基因的一部分（块 14）进行测序，研究了疟原虫 relicta 的遗传多样性。此外，还对代表常见块 14 等位基因的全长 MSP1 序列进行了测序，以调查是否可以在块 14 之外发现其他变异。
测序的大多数（75 次感染中的 72 次）感染共享相同的 MSP1 等位基因。这个共同的等位基因以前曾被发现是在欧洲传播的主要等位基因。
这些结果证实了早期从有限数据集得出的发现，即在其西古北区传播区域，全球传播的疟原虫 P. relicta 表现出非常低的遗传多样性。这可能是最近引入事件或选择清除的结果。
