Molecular characterization of Polychromophilus parasites of Scotophilus kuhlii bats in Thailand.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Chumnandee C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7938340 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Molecular characterization of <i>Polychromophilus</i> parasites of <i>Scotophilus kuhlii</i> bats in Thailand.
Chumnandee Chatree C Pha-Obnga Nawarat N Werb Oskar O Matuschewski Kai K Schaer Juliane J
Parasitology 20201201 4
Parasites of the haemosporidian genus Polychromophilus have exclusively been described in bats. These parasites belong to the diverse group of malaria parasites, and Polychromophilus presents the only haemosporidian taxon that infects mammalian hosts in tropical as well as in temperate climate zones. This study provides the first information of Polychromophilus parasites in the lesser Asiatic yellow bat (Scotophilus kuhlii) in Thailand, a common vespertilionid bat species distributed in South an ...[more]
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Project description:Blood parasites of the Haemosporida order, such as the Plasmodium spp. responsible for malaria, have become the focus of many studies in evolutionary biology. However, there is a lack of molecular investigation of haemosporidian parasites of wildlife, such as the genus Polychromophilus. Species of this neglected genus exclusively have been described in bats, mainly in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but little is known about its presence and genetic diversity on the American continent. Here, we investigated 406 bats from sites inserted in remnant fragments of the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes and urbanized areas from southern Brazil for the presence of Polychromophilus species by PCR of the mitochondrial cytochrome b encoding gene. A total of 1.2% of bats was positive for Polychromophilus, providing the first molecular information of these parasites in Myotis riparius and Eptesicus diminutus, common vespertilionid bats widely distributed in different Brazilian biomes, and Myotis ruber, an endangered species. A Bayesian analysis was conducted to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships between Polychromophilus recovered from Brazilian bats and those identified elsewhere. Sequences of Brazilian Polychromophilus lineages were placed with P. murinus and in a clade distinct from P. melanipherus, mainly restricted to bats in the family Vespertilionidae. However, the sequences were split into two minor clades, according to the genus of hosts, indicating that P. murinus and a distinct species may be circulating in Brazil. Morphological observations combined with additional molecular studies are needed to conclude and describe these Polychromophilus species.
| S-EPMC8230147 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Malaria is responsible for major diseases of humans, while associated haemosporidians are important factors in regulating wildlife populations. Polychromophilus, a haemosporidian parasite of bats, is phylogenetically close to human-pathogenic Plasmodium species, and their study may provide further clues for understanding the evolutionary relationships between vertebrates and malarial parasites. Our aim was to investigate the distribution of Polychromophilus spp. in Eastern Europe and test the importance of host ecology and roost site on haemosporidian parasite infection of bats. We sampled bats and their ectoparasites at eight locations in Romania and Bulgaria. DNA was extracted from blood samples and ectoparasites and tested individually for the presence of DNA of Polychromophilus spp. using a nested PCR targeting a 705 bp fragment of cytB. Two species of Polychromophilus were identified: Po. melanipherus in Miniopterus schreibersii and associated ectoparasites and Po. murinus in rhinolophid and vespertilionid bats (6 species) and their ticks and nycteribiid flies. Only cave-dwelling bat species (and their ectoparasites) showed infections, and we found a strong correlation between infections with Polychromophilus parasites and Nycteribiidae prevalence. We report the high genetic diversity of Polychromophilus spp. in Eastern Europe, suggesting that the simultaneous presence of varied host and vector assemblages enhances bat haemosporidian parasite diversity.
| S-EPMC7911978 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundNumerous studies have been undertaken to advance knowledge of apicomplexan parasites infecting vertebrates, including humans. Of these parasites, the genus Plasmodium has been most extensively studied because of the socio-economic and public health impacts of malaria. In non-human vertebrates, studies on malaria or malaria-like parasite groups have been conducted but information is far from complete. In Madagascar, recent studies on bat blood parasites indicate that three chiropteran families (Miniopteridae, Rhinonycteridae, and Vespertilionidae) are infected by the genus Polychromophilus with pronounced host specificity: Miniopterus spp. (Miniopteridae) harbour Polychromophilus melanipherus and Myotis goudoti (Vespertilionidae) is infected by Polychromophilus murinus. However, most of the individuals analysed in previous studies were sampled on the western and central portions of the island. The aims of this study are (1) to add new information on bat blood parasites in eastern Madagascar, and (2) to highlight biotic and abiotic variables driving prevalence across the island.MethodsFieldworks were undertaken from 2014 to 2016 in four sites in the eastern portion of Madagascar to capture bats and collect biological samples. Morphological and molecular techniques were used to identify the presence of haemosporidian parasites. Further, a MaxEnt modelling was undertaken using data from Polychromophilus melanipherus to identify variables influencing the presence of this parasite RESULTS: In total, 222 individual bats belonging to 17 species and seven families were analysed. Polychromophilus infections were identified in two families: Miniopteridae and Vespertilionidae. Molecular data showed that Polychromophilus spp. parasitizing Malagasy bats form a monophyletic group composed of three distinct clades displaying marked host specificity. In addition to P. melanipherus and P. murinus, hosted by Miniopterus spp. and Myotis goudoti, respectively, a novel Polychromophilus lineage was identified from a single individual of Scotophilus robustus. Based on the present study and the literature, different biotic and abiotic factors are shown to influence Polychromophilus infection in bats, which are correlated based on MaxEnt modelling.ConclusionsThe present study improves current knowledge on Polychromophilus blood parasites infecting Malagasy bats and confirms the existence of a novel Polychromophilus lineage in Scotophilus bats. Additional studies are needed to obtain additional material of this novel lineage to resolve its taxonomic relationship with known members of the genus. Further, the transmission mode of Polychromophilus in bats as well as its potential effect on bat populations should be investigated to complement the results provided by MaxEnt modelling and eventually provide a comprehensive picture of the biology of host-parasite interactions.
| S-EPMC7980569 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Plasmodium spp. and some other blood parasites belonging to the order Haemosporida are the focus of many epidemiological studies worldwide. However, haemosporidian parasites from wild animals are largely neglected in scientific research. For example, Polychromophilus parasites, which are exclusive to bats, are described in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, but little is known about their presence and genetic diversity in the New World. In this study, 224 samples of bats from remaining fragments of the Atlantic Forest and Pantanal biomes, as well as urbanized areas in southern and southeastern Brazil, were analyzed for the presence of haemosporidian parasites by PCR of the mitochondrial gene that encodes cytochrome b (cytb). The PCR fragments of the positive samples were sequenced and analyzed by the Bayesian inference method to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships between Polychromophilus parasites from bats in Brazil and other countries. Sequences from Brazilian lineages of Polychromophilus were recovered in a clade with sequences from Polychromophilus murinus and close to the one Polychromophilus sequence obtained in Panama, the only available sequence for the American continent. This clade was restricted to bats of the family Vespertilionidae and distinct from Polychromophilus melanipherus, a parasite species mainly found in bats of the family Miniopteridae. The detection of Polychromophilus and the genetic proximity to P. murinus were further confirmed with the amplification of two other genes (clpc and asl). We also found a Haemosporida parasite sequence in a sample of Noctilio albiventris collected in the Pantanal biome, which presents phylogenetic proximity with avian Haemoproteus sequences. Morphological and molecular studies are still needed to conclude and describe the Polychromophilus species in Brazilian Myotis bats in more detail and to confirm Haemoproteus parasites in bats. Nevertheless, these molecular results in Brazilian bats confirm the importance of studying these neglected genera.
| S-EPMC10303132 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBats are home to diverse haemosporidian parasites namely Plasmodium and Plasmodium-related. While information is available at a worldwide level, haemosporidian infection in bats from Madagascar is still scarce and recent changes in the taxonomy of the island's bat fauna, particularly the description of several new species, require a reassessment of previously described patterns, including blood parasite ecology and vectorial transmission.MethodsA sample representing seven of the nine known bat families and 31 of the 46 currently recognized taxa from Madagascar and collected in the western and central portions of the island were screened by PCR for the presence of Polychromophilus. In addition, Nycteribiidae flies parasitizing Miniopteridae and Vespertilionidae were screened for parasites with the aim to better understand aspects of vector transmission. Phylogenetic reconstruction using the mitochondrial cytochrome b encoding gene was used in a Bayesian analysis to examine the relationship between Polychromophilus recovered from Malagasy bats and those identified elsewhere.ResultsPolychromophilus infection was restricted to Miniopterus spp. (Miniopteridae), Myotis goudoti (Vespertilionidae), and Paratriaenops furculus (Rhinonycteridae), with an overall infection rate of 13.5%. Polychromophilus melanipherus was found infecting Miniopterus spp. and P. furculus, whereas Polychromophilus murinus was only recovered from M. goudoti. These two protozoan parasites species were also detected in bat flies species known to parasitize Miniopterus spp. and M. goudoti, respectively. Generalized linear model analyses were conducted to elucidate the effect of species and sex on haemoparasites infection in Miniopterus spp., which revealed that males have higher risk of infection than females and prevalence differed according to the considered Miniopterus host. Molecular screening of nycteribiid flies revealed three positive species for Polychromophilus spp., including Penicillidia sp. (cf. fulvida), Penicillidia leptothrinax, and Nycteribia stylidiopsis. These three fly species are known to parasitize Miniopterus spp. and M. goudoti and should be considered as potential vectors of Polychromophilus spp.ConclusionPhylogenetic analyses demonstrated the existence of at least four distinct clades within the genus Polychromophilus, two of which were documented in the present study. The screening of nycteribiid flies overlaid on the highly diversified genus Miniopterus, provides considerable insight into parasite transmission, with bat infection being associated with their roosting behaviour and the occurrence of specific arthropod vectors.
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Project description:BackgroundSecond only to mosquitoes, ticks (Acari: Ixodida) are significant blood-feeding ectoparasites and vectors of numerous pathogens affecting both animals and humans. Despite bats serving as hosts to various tick species, they remain relatively understudied due to their nocturnal behavior and laborious capture procedures. Soft ticks in particular display diverse ecological behaviors, inhabiting bat roosts, caves, and occasionally human dwellings. This overlap in habitats suggests soft ticks may play a critical role as vectors of zoonotic pathogens. In Southeast Asia, research on soft ticks has primarily focused on island nations, with limited studies on bat-associated ticks in Thailand. This study aimed to examine the identity and distribution of bat ticks in Thailand.MethodsBats were captured across ten provinces in Thailand between 2018 and 2023. Ticks were removed from the bats' skin and identified through morphological examination using a stereomicroscope, with molecular confirmation. Scanning electron micrographs were recorded. Prevalence, mean abundance, and mean intensity of tick infestations were calculated. The mitochondrial genomes of the ticks were sequenced, annotated, and subjected to phylogenetic analysis.ResultsA total of 1031 bats, representing 7 families, 11 genera, and 28 species, were captured. Tick infestations were found in 34 bats (3.30%), specifically in two species: Craseonycteris thonglongyai (33/139, 23.74%) and Eonycteris spelaea (1/2, 50%). All ticks were in the larval stage. Basic local alignment search tool for nucleotide (BLASTN) searches using 16S rRNA (425 bp) and COI (825 bp) sequences, along with Barcode of Life Database (BOLD) database queries, revealed the highest similarity to tick in the genus Reticulinasus found on bats in Zambia. The mitochondrial genomes of ticks collected from C. thonglongyai and E. spelaea were 14,433 bp and 14,439 bp in length, respectively, and contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 2 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis placed these ticks within the Reticulinasus clade, with strong support indicated by high bootstrap values.ConclusionsThis study identified Reticulinasus sp. infestations on C. thonglongyai and E. spelaea bats, marking the first report of soft ticks in bats from Thailand, with potential implications for zoonotic disease transmission.
| S-EPMC11827295 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Little is known about the ecology of many of the parasites and pathogens affecting bats, but host social behavior almost certainly plays an important role in bat-parasite dynamics. Understanding parasite dynamics for bats is important from a human public health perspective because of their role as natural reservoirs for recent high-profile emerging zoonotic pathogens (e.g. Ebola, Hendra) and from a bat conservation perspective because of the recent emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America highlighting the potential population impacts of parasites and pathogens. Although some bat species are among the most gregarious of mammals, species vary widely in terms of their social behavior and this variation could influence pathogen transmission and impacts. Here, we review the literature on links between bat social behavior and parasite dynamics. Using standardized search terms in Web of Science, we identified articles that explicitly tested or discussed links between some aspect of bat sociality and parasite transmission or host population impacts. We identified social network analysis, epidemiological modeling, and interspecific comparative analyses as the most commonly used methods to quantify relationships between social behavior and parasite-risk in bats while WNS, Hendra virus, and arthropod ectoparasites were the most commonly studied host-parasite systems. We summarize known host-parasite relationships in these three systems and propose testable hypotheses that could improve our understanding of links between host sociality and parasite-dynamics in bats.
| S-EPMC7123799 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The vast majority of trypanosome species is vector-borne parasites, with some of them being medically and veterinary important (such as Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma brucei) and capable of causing serious illness in vertebrate hosts. The discovery of trypanosomes in bats emphasizes the importance of bats as an important reservoir. Interestingly, there is a hypothesis that bats are ancestral hosts of T. cruzi. Trypanosome diversity has never been investigated in bats in Thailand, despite being in a biodiversity hot spot. To gain a better understanding of the diversity and evolutionary relationship of trypanosomes, polymerase chain reaction-based surveys were carried out from 2018 to 2020 in 17 sites. A total of 576 bats were captured, representing 23 species. A total of 38 (6.6%) positive samples was detected in ten bat species. Trypanosoma dionisii and Trypanosoma noyesi were identified from Myotis siligorensis and Megaderma spasma, respectively. The remaining 18S rRNA sequences of trypanosomes were related to other trypanosomes previously reported elsewhere. The sequences in the current study showed nucleotide identity as low as 90.74% compared to those of trypanosomes in the GenBank database, indicating the possibility of new species. All bat trypanosomes identified in the current study fall within the T. cruzi clade. The current study adds to evidence linking T. noyesi to a bat trypanosome and further supports the bat host origin of the T. cruzi clade. To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study on bat trypanosomes in Thailand and their phylogenetic relationships with global isolates.
| S-EPMC11010503 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND: There have been reported cases of host-switching in avian and lizard species of Plasmodium (Apicomplexa, Haemosporidia), as well as in those infecting different primate species. However, no evidence has previously been found for host-swapping between wild birds and mammals. METHODS: This paper presents the results of the sampling of blood parasites of wild-captured bats from Madagascar and Cambodia. The presence of Haemosporidia infection in these animals is confirmed and cytochrome b gene sequences were used to construct a phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS: Results reveal at least three different and independent Haemosporidia evolutionary histories in three different bat lineages from Madagascar and Cambodia. CONCLUSION: Phylogenetic analysis strongly suggests multiple host-switching of Haemosporidia parasites in bats with those from avian and primate hosts.
| S-EPMC2212651 | biostudies-literature
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| S-EPMC10294891 | biostudies-literature