Characterization and diversity of Babesia sp. YLG, a new member of the Peircei group infecting Mediterranean yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis)

Bonsergent, Claire; Vittecoq, Marion; Leray, Carole; Burkart, Louisiane; McCoy, Karen D.; Malandrin, Laurence

doi:10.1016/j.ttbdis.2021.101852

Cited by 5 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…YLG 18S rRNA gene was detected (17 salivary glands, 10 ovaries, 6 female endospermatophores, 1 male genitalia and 26 caeca), and of these, only 28 sequences were obtained (Table 1). Haplotypes a, b, c, d and e, previously described from YLG chicks (Bonsergent et al, 2022), were found either alone (13 ticks) or in mixtures within the same tick (4 ticks), indicating co-infection with different isolates of Babesia sp. YLG.…”

Section: Variability Of the Cox1 Genementioning

confidence: 60%

“…Regardless of the reservoir, our previous study demonstrated a high transmission efficiency of Babesia sp. YLG to chicks with 58-85% of sampled chicks infected, many with extremely high parasitemia (27 to 41% of individuals with parasitemia over 10%) (Bonsergent et al, 2022). Future work will now need to focus on the degree to which the parasite can be maintained without the vertebrate host and the epidemiological consequences of infection for both ticks and seabirds.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following the protocol previously used for the detection of Babesia sp. YLG (Bonsergent et al, 2022), the primary amplification with primers CRYPTOF and CRYPTOR (Supplementary Material 1) was conducted with 5 μL of DNA extracted from salivary glands, ovaries, male genitalia, endospermatophores and eggs in a 30 μL reaction mixture (Malandrin et al, 2010). A nested PCR with primers 18SBp_fw and 18SBp_rev (Supplementary Material 1) was then carried out with 10 μL of 1/40 diluted amplicons in a 30 μL reaction mixture.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two successive amplifications of the cox1 gene of Babesia sp. YLG were performed with the primers, COX1Bp_fw and COX1Bp_rev (Supplementary Material 1, Bonsergent et al, 2022), for Babesia positive DNA samples. Both reactions were carried out in 30 μL reaction mixtures containing 1 X buffer, 4 mM MgCl2, 0.2 mM of each dNTP (Eurobio), 1 unit GoTaq G2 Flexi DNA Polymerase (Promega), 0.5 μM of each primer.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…YLG cox1 gene found in dissected organs of Ornithodoros maritimus. The position of each SNP is indicated as inBonsergent et al, 2022. FE: female-derived endospermatophores, C: caeca, OV: ovaries, SG: salivary glands.…”

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confidence: 99%

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A soft tick vector ofBabesiasp. YLG in Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) nests

Bonsergent

Vittecoq

Leray

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Babesia sp. YLG has been recently described in Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) chicks and belongs to the Peircei clade in the new classification of Piroplasms. Here, we studied Babesia sp. YLG vectorial transmission by ticks in the simplified environment of a single seabird breeding colony where the Yellow-legged gull is the sole vertebrate host, Ornithodoros maritimus (syn. Alectorobius maritimus, Mans et al. 2021) the sole tick species, and Babesia sp. YLG is the unique blood parasite species previously detected in gull chicks in the colony. We collected ticks over four years, maintained certain individuals through moulting or oviposition, and dissected fresh ticks to isolate different organs and test for the presence of the parasite using molecular assays. We report the first strong evidence of a Piroplasmidae transmitted by a soft tick. Indeed, Babesia sp. YLG DNA was detected in the salivary glands of nymphs, females and males, a necessary organ to infect for transmission to a new vertebrate host. Parasite DNA was also found in tick ovaries, which could indicate possible transovarial transmission. Our detection of Babesia sp. YLG DNA in several male testes and in endospermatophores, and notably in a parasite-free female (uninfected ovaries and salivary glands), raise the interesting possibility of sexual transmission from infected males to uninfected females. Future work in this system will now need to focus on the degree to which the parasite can be maintained locally by ticks and the epidemiological consequences of infection for both O. maritimus and the avian host.

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Section: Variability Of the Cox1 Genementioning

confidence: 60%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%