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New member of Plasmodium (Vinckeia) and Plasmodium cyclopsi discovered in bats in Sierra Leone - nuclear sequence and complete mitochondrial genome analyses
Werb, Oskar Matuschewski, Kai Weber, Natalie Hillers, Annika Garteh, Jerry Jusu, Amadu Turay, Brima S. Wauquier, Nadia Escalante, Ananias A. Pacheco, M. Andreína
Werb, Oskar
Matuschewski, Kai
Weber, Natalie
Hillers, Annika
Garteh, Jerry
Jusu, Amadu
Turay, Brima S.
Wauquier, Nadia
Escalante, Ananias A.
Pacheco, M. Andreína
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Journal article
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2024-05-16
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Biology
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2024.05.002
Abstract
Malaria remains the most important arthropod-borne infectious disease globally. The causative agent, Plasmodium, is a unicellular eukaryote that develops inside red blood cells. Identifying new Plasmodium parasite species that infect mammalian hosts can shed light on the complex evolution and diversity of malaria parasites. Bats feature a high diversity of microorganisms including seven separate genera of malarial parasites. Three species of Plasmodium have been reported so far, for which scarce reports exist. Here we present data from an investigation of Plasmodium infections in bats in the western Guinean lowland forest in Sierra Leone. We discovered a new Plasmodium parasite in the horseshoe bat Rhinolophus landeri. Plasmodium cyclopsi infections in a member of leaf-nosed bats, Doryrhina cyclops, exhibited a high prevalence of 100%. Phylogenetic analysis of complete mitochondrial genomes and nine nuclear markers recovered a close relationship between P. cyclopsi and the new Plasmodium parasite with the rodent species Plasmodium berghei, a widely used in vivo model to study malaria in humans. The data suggests that the “rodent/bat” Plasmodium (Vinckeia) clade represents a diverse group of malarial parasites that would likely expand with a systematic sampling of small mammals in tropical Africa. Identifying the bat Plasmodium repertoire is central to our understanding of the evolution of Plasmodium parasites in mammals.
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Oskar Werb, Kai Matuschewski, Natalie Weber, Annika Hillers, Jerry Garteh, Amadu Jusu, Brima S. Turay, Nadia Wauquier, Ananias A. Escalante, M. Andreína Pacheco, Juliane Schaer, New member of Plasmodium (Vinckeia) and Plasmodium cyclopsi discovered in bats in Sierra Leone – nuclear sequence and complete mitochondrial genome analyses, International Journal for Parasitology, Volume 54, Issue 10, 2024, Pages 475-484, ISSN 0020-7519, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2024.05.002.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020751924001085)
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Elsevier
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International Journal for Parasitology, Vol. 54, Iss. 10
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