On the specificity of avian blood parasites: revealing specific and generalist relationships between haemosporidians and biting midges

Abstract

The study of host-parasite relationships involving vector-borne parasites requires understanding interactions between parasites and vectors. The capacity of haemosporidians to infect insects has clear evolutionary consequences for the transmission of diseases. Here, we investigated (i) the associations between blood parasites, biting midges and birds and (ii) the potential specificity between biting midge and haemosporidian haplotypes. A total of 629 parous biting midges Culicoides and 224 wild birds (belonging to seven species) from a locality of central Spain were individually examined for the presence of Haemoproteus and Plasmodium parasites by sequencing a fragment of cytochrome B. Biting midges were identified morphologically and characterized on the basis of a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase (COI) gene. Overall, 12 Haemoproteus and three Plasmodium haplotypes were isolated and sequenced. Among them, 10 haplotypes were exclusively isolated from biting midges, three haplotypes only from birds and two haplotypes from both biting midges and birds. Biting midge haplotypes showed both specific and generalist relationships with Haemoproteus haplotypes but only generalist relationships with Plasmodium haplotypes. Several C. festivipennis and C. kibunesis haplotypes established significant coevolutionary links with Haemoproteus haplotypes. These results shed light on the specificity of interactions between vectors and blood parasites.

A survey of biting midges of the genus Culicoides Latreille, 1809 (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in NE Bulgaria, with respect to transmission of avian haemosporidians

“…Associations between various Culicoides spp. (C. circumscriptus, C. pictipennis, C. festivipennis, C. salinarius, C. duddingstoni, C. kibunensis, C. punctatus, C. simulator and C. segnis) and Haemoproteus lineages have been already published before (Martínez-De La Puente et al 2011, Santiago-Alarcon et al 2012, Synek et al 2013. In our study, we have found three lineages of Haemoproteus infecting two species of Culicoides.…”

“…Several studies have shown that some Culicoides spp. have ornithophilic food preferences (Martínez-De La Puente et al 2011, Pettersson et al 2012, Santiago-Alarcon et al 2012. According to these publications, the Bulgarian list of species includes five species feeding on birds (Appendix 1).…”

“…However, it remains unknown which species of Culicoides transmit certain haemo-proteids, both at level of species and genetic lineages. For the first time, Martínez-de la Puente et al (2011) used molecular methods and determined numerous associations between Culicoides spp. and avian Haemoproteus spp.…”

Local host specialization, host-switching, and dispersal shape the regional distributions of avian haemosporidian parasites

“…Specialized associations between specific parasites and vectors (20)(21)(22) may drive such heterogeneity, although a recent analysis suggests that parasitehost compatibility is also important (23), and local coevolutionary relationships between parasites and their hosts likely influence geographic distributions of both host and parasite populations (11,14,15). However, most regional studies of these parasites have focused on individual host species (24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

Conservation implications of avian malaria exposure for African penguins during rehabilitation

“…are known for their low specificity and broad host range which allows for host switching between different mosquito vectors as well as avian hosts. 47 Host switching could also cause a parasite to undergo a change in virulence 48 which could translate into an acute infection. Even if penguins survive these new infections during rehabilitation, they could become carriers and introduce this Plasmodium species into breeding colonies, thereby exposing the population to a new hitherto unknown Plasmodium.…”