What distinguishes malaria parasites from other pigmented haemosporidians?

Valkiūnas, Gediminas; Anwar, Ali; Atkinson, Carter T.; Greiner, Ellis C.; Paperna, I.; Peirce, M. A.

doi:10.1016/j.pt.2005.06.005

Cited by 45 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…(hereafter referred to as avian malaria, but see Valkiunas et al 2005) and investigate the consequences of infection for individual survival. We therefore combine parasite prevalence data with the long-term life-history dataset from this population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced blood parasite prevalence with age in the Seychelles Warbler: selective mortality or suppression of infection?

et al. 2009

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Avian malaria can affect survival and reproduction of their hosts. Two patterns commonly observed in birds are that females have a higher prevalence of malaria than do males and that prevalence decreases with age. The mechanisms behind these patterns remain unclear. However, most studies on blood parasite infections are based on cross-sectional analyses of prevalence, ignoring malaria related mortality and individual changes in infection. Here, we analyse both within-individual changes in malaria prevalence and long-term survival consequences of infection in the Seychelles Warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis). Adults were less likely to be infected than juveniles but, contrary to broad patterns previously reported in birds, females were less likely to be infected than males. We show by screening individual birds in two subsequent years that the decline with age is a result both of individual suppression of infection and selective mortality. Birds that were infected early in life had a lower survival rate compared to uninfected birds, but among those that survived to be screened twice the proportion of infected birds had also decreased. Uninfected birds did not become infected later in life. Males were found to be more infected than females in this species possibly because, unlike most birds, males are the dispersing sex and the cost of dispersal may have to be traded against immunity. Infected males took longer to suppress their infection than did females. We conclude that these infections are indeed costly, and that age-related patterns in blood parasite prevalence are influenced both by suppression and selective mortality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced blood parasite prevalence with age in the Seychelles Warbler: selective mortality or suppression of infection?

et al. 2009

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“…Species identification and systematics in general is a profound problem in avian haemosporidia, particularly within the genus Plasmodium , which is partly reflected by the ongoing debate on the use of the term 'malaria parasite' (Pé rez-Tris et al 2005;Valki" unas et al 2005). Classical systematics, which is based on conventional, mainly morphological criteria, distinguishes four Plasmodium subgenera (Corradetti et al 1963).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, there is limited host specificity on the vector-side, i.e. in the culicid mosquitoes, ceratopogonid midges, simuliid and hippoboscid flies (Olsen 1974;Rathore et al 2001;Valki" unas 2005) transmitting the various parasite genera.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Haemosporidian infection in passerine birds from Lower Saxony

et al. 2007

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Blood samples from 94 coal tits (Parus ater), 56 great tits (Parus major) and 219 pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca), caught between 1993 and 2002 at two localities in Lower Saxony, Germany, were examined for haemosporidian infection by parasitespecific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A simple PCR targeting the 18 SSU rRNA gene of the parasites was used for rapid screening of the samples and generated a total infection prevalence of 20.6% (76/369): 6.8% (n = 15) of the pied flycatchers, 19.1% (n = 18) of the coal tits and 76.8% (n = 43) of the great tits were infected. The positive specimens were re-examined by a cytochrome b gene-directed nested PCR producing significantly longer DNA fragments (approx. 520 bp) that were sequenced and analysed against GenBankdeposited nucleotide sequences. In various numbers (once to 30 times), a total of 13 parasitic DNA sequences differing from 2.9 to 8.5% (13-45 nucleotides) were demonstrated in the three bird species. Due to similarities of 98-100% with GenBank entries, 11 sequences could be assigned to Plasmodium sp. and two to the genus Haemoproteus. In summary, 57 birds were infected with Plasmodium and 19 with Haemoproteus, corresponding to 15.4 and 5.1% of all birds examined, and to 75 and 25% of all birds tested positive. As the only defined species, Haemoproteus majoris was identified in 17 great tits.

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“…No major attempts have been made at taxonomic revision in the era of molecular systematics. Where debate has occurred, it has concerned the more esoteric question of what constitutes a malaria parasite (14,16); however, because the genera within the opposing nomenclatural models do not themselves constitute monophyletic groupings, those interpretations are inherently flawed as well.…”

Section: Malaria Taxonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolving the phylogeny of malaria parasites

Rich

2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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What distinguishes malaria parasites from other pigmented haemosporidians?

Cited by 45 publications

References 2 publications

Reduced blood parasite prevalence with age in the Seychelles Warbler: selective mortality or suppression of infection?

Reduced blood parasite prevalence with age in the Seychelles Warbler: selective mortality or suppression of infection?

Haemosporidian infection in passerine birds from Lower Saxony

Resolving the phylogeny of malaria parasites

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