Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Kantharawichai District, Maha Sarakham 44150, Thailand.
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Mahasarakham University, Kantharawichai District, Maha Sarakham 44150, Thailand.
Acta Trop. 2021 Dec;224:106118. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2021.106118. Epub 2021 Sep 2.
Culicoides biting midges are vectors of many haemosporidian parasite species. These parasites are found in several wild and domestic avian species in Thailand but knowledge of the insect vectors is very limited. In this study, a molecular approach was used to detect haemosporidian parasites in six biting midge species in Thailand. A total of fifteen cytochrome b haplotypes of three haemosporidian parasites were detected from 1,165 specimens of six different Culicoides species. Comparisons of these sequences with those recorded in a public database revealed that they were comprised sequences of three species, Leucocytozoon sp., Plasmodium juxtanucleare and P. gallinaceum. All of these haemosporidian parasite species were detected in Culicoides mahasarakhamense Pramual, Jomkumsing, Piraonapicha, & Jumpato while P. juxtanucleare was also detected in C. huffi Causey and C. guttifer Meijere and Leucocytozoon sp. were also detected in C. guttifer. All of these parasites are commonly found in chickens in agreement with information that these biting midge species will bite chickens. Detection DNA of Leucocytozoon sp. in biting midges reported here provides the second record of this parasitic genus infecting Culicoides. This study also provides the first records of P. juxtanucleare and P. gallinaceum in biting midge species. Further investigation is required to determine whether Culicoides biting midge species are competent vectors of these parasites.
致倦库蚊是多种血孢子虫寄生虫的媒介。这些寄生虫存在于泰国的几种野生和家养禽类中，但对昆虫媒介的了解非常有限。在这项研究中，采用分子方法检测了泰国六种吸血蠓中的血孢子虫寄生虫。从六种不同库蠓的 1165 个标本中总共检测到三种血孢子虫的 15 个细胞色素 b 单倍型。将这些序列与公共数据库中记录的序列进行比较，结果表明它们由三种物种的序列组成，即 Leucocytozoon sp.、Plasmodium juxtanucleare 和 P. gallinaceum。所有这些血孢子虫寄生虫均在库蠓 mahasarakhamense Pramual、Jomkumsing、Piraonapicha 和 Jumpato 中检测到，而 P. juxtanucleare 也在 C. huffi Causey 和 C. guttifer Meijere 中检测到，Leucocytozoon sp. 也在 C. guttifer 中检测到。所有这些寄生虫在鸡中很常见，这与这些吸血蠓会叮咬鸡的信息一致。本研究中在吸血蠓中检测到 Leucocytozoon sp. DNA，这是该寄生虫属感染库蠓的第二个记录。本研究还首次记录了 P. juxtanucleare 和 P. gallinaceum 在吸血蠓物种中的存在。需要进一步调查以确定吸血蠓是否是这些寄生虫的有效媒介。
