9
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Molecular characterization of Babesia peircei and Babesia ugwidiensis provides insight into the evolution and host specificity of avian piroplasmids

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          There are 16 recognized species of avian-infecting Babesia spp. (Piroplasmida: Babesiidae). While the classification of piroplasmids has been historically based on morphological differences, geographic isolation and presumed host and/or vector specificities, recent studies employing gene sequence analysis have provided insight into their phylogenetic relationships and host distribution and specificity. In this study, we analyzed the sequences of the 18S rRNA gene and ITS-1 and ITS-2 regions of two Babesia species from South African seabirds: Babesia peircei from African penguins ( Spheniscus demersus) and Babesia ugwidiensis from Bank and Cape cormorants ( Phalacrocorax neglectus and P. capensis, respectively). Our results show that avian Babesia spp. are not monophyletic, with at least three distinct phylogenetic groups. B. peircei and B. ugwidiensis are closely related, and fall within the same phylogenetic group as B. ardeae (from herons Ardea cinerea), B. poelea (from boobies Sula spp.) and B. uriae (from murres Uria aalge). The validity of B. peircei and B. ugwidiensis as separate species is corroborated by both morphological and genetic evidence. On the other hand, our results indicate that B. poelea might be a synonym of B. peircei, which in turn would be a host generalist that infects seabirds from multiple orders. Further studies combining morphological and molecular methods are warranted to clarify the taxonomy, phylogeny and host distribution of avian piroplasmids.

          Graphical abstract

          Highlights

          • Babesia peircei ( Bp) infects penguins and B. ugwidiensis ( Bu) infects cormorants.

          • Gene sequences of Bp and Bu were analyzed from birds sampled in South Africa.

          • Phylogenetic analysis reveals at least three paraphyletic groups of avian Babesia.

          • Bp and Bu form a phylogenetic group along with other Babesia from aquatic birds.

          • Avian Babesia might not be host-specific at the order level as previously thought.

          Related collections

          Most cited references36

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: found
          Is Open Access

          Parsimony and Model-Based Analyses of Indels in Avian Nuclear Genes Reveal Congruent and Incongruent Phylogenetic Signals

          Insertion/deletion (indel) mutations, which are represented by gaps in multiple sequence alignments, have been used to examine phylogenetic hypotheses for some time. However, most analyses combine gap data with the nucleotide sequences in which they are embedded, probably because most phylogenetic datasets include few gap characters. Here, we report analyses of 12,030 gap characters from an alignment of avian nuclear genes using maximum parsimony (MP) and a simple maximum likelihood (ML) framework. Both trees were similar, and they exhibited almost all of the strongly supported relationships in the nucleotide tree, although neither gap tree supported many relationships that have proven difficult to recover in previous studies. Moreover, independent lines of evidence typically corroborated the nucleotide topology instead of the gap topology when they disagreed, although the number of conflicting nodes with high bootstrap support was limited. Filtering to remove short indels did not substantially reduce homoplasy or reduce conflict. Combined analyses of nucleotides and gaps resulted in the nucleotide topology, but with increased support, suggesting that gap data may prove most useful when analyzed in combination with nucleotide substitutions.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Worldwide distribution and diversity of seabird ticks: implications for the ecology and epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens.

            The ubiquity of ticks and their importance in the transmission of pathogens involved in human and livestock diseases are reflected by the growing number of studies focusing on tick ecology and the epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens. Likewise, the involvement of wild birds in dispersing pathogens and their role as reservoir hosts are now well established. However, studies on tick-bird systems have mainly focused on land birds, and the role of seabirds in the ecology and epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens is rarely considered. Seabirds typically have large population sizes, wide geographic distributions, and high mobility, which make them significant potential players in the maintenance and dispersal of disease agents at large spatial scales. They are parasitized by at least 29 tick species found across all biogeographical regions of the world. We know that these seabird-tick systems can harbor a large diversity of pathogens, although detailed studies of this diversity remain scarce. In this article, we review current knowledge on the diversity and global distribution of ticks and tick-borne pathogens associated with seabirds. We discuss the relationship between seabirds, ticks, and their pathogens and examine the interesting characteristics of these relationships from ecological and epidemiological points of view. We also highlight some future research directions required to better understand the evolution of these systems and to assess the potential role of seabirds in the epidemiology of tick-borne pathogens.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              jModelTest 2: more models, new heuristics and high-performance computing

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl
                Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl
                International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife
                Elsevier
                2213-2244
                24 August 2017
                December 2017
                24 August 2017
                : 6
                : 3
                : 257-264
                Affiliations
                [a ]Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
                [b ]Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
                [c ]Marine Apex Predator Research Unit, Department of Zoology, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
                [d ]Penguins Eastern Cape Marine Bird Rehabilitation Center, Cape St. Francis, South Africa
                [e ]MP International Consultancy, Normandale, Bexhill-on-Sea, United Kingdom
                [f ]International Reference Centre for Avian Haematozoa, Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
                [g ]Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds, Cape Town, South Africa
                Author notes
                []Corresponding author. Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, Department of Population Health, Wildlife Health Building, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease StudyDepartment of Population HealthCollege of Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GeorgiaWildlife Health BuildingAthensGA30602USA myabsley@ 123456uga.edu
                [1]

                Current Address: School of Mathematics and Sciences, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, USA.

                Article
                S2213-2244(17)30070-6
                10.1016/j.ijppaw.2017.08.006
                5582639
                28913165
                097057e2-4dca-46e2-82ce-0c12ae982c8b
                © 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Australian Society for Parasitology.

                This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

                History
                : 13 June 2017
                : 20 August 2017
                : 22 August 2017
                Categories
                Article

                africa,babesia,piroplasmida,phalacrocoracidae,spheniscidae,tick-borne pathogen

                Comments

                Comment on this article