Search

Malaria parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa (Order: Haemosporida) infect diverse vertebrates and invertebrate hosts. At least seven genera of haemosporidian parasites have been described to exclusively infect bats. Most of these parasites remain enigmatic with a poorly known host range. Here, we investigated 271 bats belonging to 21 species and seven families from six provinces of Thailand. Overall, 124 out of 271 bats (45.8%) were positive for haemosporidian parasites, while none had Plasmodium, based on microscopic examination of blood smears and PCR amplification. We obtained 19 distinct cytochrome b (cytb) nucleotide haplotypes of Hepatocystis from seven bat species (families: Craseonycteridae, Hipposideridae, Pteropodidae, and Rhinolophidae). Nycteria was found in four bat species (Craseonycteridae, Emballonuridae, Megadermatidae, and Pteropodidae) and Polychromophilus in two species (Emballonuridae, Vespertilionidae). Phylogenetic analysis inferred from cytb sequences placed Hepatocystis into 2 different clades. Most Hepatocystis infections were found in insectivorous bats and clustered together with a sequence from Hipposideros larvatus in Cambodia (in subclade 1a). A single sequence of Hepatocystis obtained from a frugivorous bat, Cynopterus brachyotis, was placed in the same clade with Hepatocystis from the same bat species previously reported in Malaysia (clade 2). Nycteria in these Thai bats were clearly separated from the African isolates previously reported in bats in the family Rhinolophidae. Polychromophilus murinus from Myotis siligorensis was placed in a distinct clade (clade 2) from Polychromophilus melanipherus isolated from Taphozous melanopogon (clade 1). These results confirmed that at least two distinct species of Polychromophilus are found in Thailand. Collectively, Hepatocystis presented no host specificity. Although Megaderma spasma seemed to be infected by only Nycteria, its respective parasite does not show specificity to only a single bat host. Polychromophilus murinus and P. melanipherus seem to infect a narrower host range or are somehow restricted to bats in the families Vespertilionidae and Emballonuridae, respectively.

Mammalian haemosporidian parasites are classified in ten genera, including Plasmodium, Hepatocystis and Nycteria. A high diversity of haemosporidian parasites has been described from bats, but our understanding of their prevalence, distribution and use of hosts remain fragmented. The haemosporidian parasites of bats in Cameroon have been largely understudied, but here, bats, sampled from different habitat types of the Central Region of Cameroon, were investigated for haemosporidian infections with a combination of microscopic and molecular phylogenetic analysis. An overall prevalence of 18.1% of haemosporidian infections was detected in a total of 155 investigated bats belonging to 14 bat species. For the first time Hepatocystis and Nycteria parasites were detected in bats from Cameroon and molecularly characterized. Hepatocystis infections were exclusively identified in the epauletted fruit bat host species Epomophorus pusillus with a high prevalence of 65.5%, whereas Nycteria infections could be detected in several hosts, namely: Doryrhina cyclops (60.0%), Rhinolophus landeri (20.0%) and one Nycteris grandis. This study unveils evidence that habitat types may play a role in transmission of Hepatocystis parasites on a local scale and it adds important information on the distribution and host specificity of the neglected haemosporidian genus Nycteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa (Order: Haemosporida) infect diverse vertebrates and invertebrate hosts. At least seven genera of haemosporidian parasites have been described to exclusively infect bats. Most of these parasites remain enigmatic with a poorly known host range. Here, we investigated 271 bats belonging to 21 species and seven families from six provinces of Thailand. Overall, 124 out of 271 bats (45.8%) were positive for haemosporidian parasites, while none had Plasmodium, based on microscopic examination of blood smears and PCR amplification. We obtained 19 distinct cytochrome b (cytb) nucleotide haplotypes of Hepatocystis from seven bat species (families: Craseonycteridae, Hipposideridae, Pteropodidae, and Rhinolophidae). Nycteria was found in four bat species (Craseonycteridae, Emballonuridae, Megadermatidae, and Pteropodidae) and Polychromophilus in two species (Emballonuridae, Vespertilionidae). Phylogenetic analysis inferred from cytb sequences placed Hepatocystis into 2 different clades. Most Hepatocystis infections were found in insectivorous bats and clustered together with a sequence from Hipposideros larvatus in Cambodia (in subclade 1a). A single sequence of Hepatocystis obtained from a frugivorous bat, Cynopterus brachyotis , was placed in the same clade with Hepatocystis from the same bat species previously reported in Malaysia (clade 2). Nycteria in these Thai bats were clearly separated from the African isolates previously reported in bats in the family Rhinolophidae. Polychromophilus murinus from Myotis siligorensis was placed in a distinct clade (clade 2) from Polychromophilus melanipherus isolated from Taphozous melanopogon (clade 1). These results confirmed that at least two distinct species of Polychromophilus are found in Thailand. Collectively, Hepatocystis presented no host specificity. Although Megaderma spasma seemed to be infected by only Nycteria, its respective parasite does not show specificity to only a single bat host. Polychromophilus murinus and P. melanipherus seem to infect a narrower host range or are somehow restricted to bats in the families Vespertilionidae and Emballonuridae, respectively. Image 1 • First molecular analysis of haemosporidian parasites in 21 bat species across Thailand. • Diverse bat species in Thailand are hosts of various haemosporidian parasites. • High prevalence of haemosporidians in bats (124/271 bats; 45.8%). • Hepatocystis , Nycteria , and Polychromophilus were discovered in Thai bats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Haemosporida are arthropod-borne blood parasites that infect a wide range of vertebrate hosts, including numerous species of bats. Here, we present data of haemosporidian infections in different bat species that were surveyed in Ngounié province, Gabon. We detected Nycteria parasites in Rhinolophus bats and Polychromophilus in Miniopterus minor , a rare and poorly known bat species. Strikingly, no Hepatocystis parasites, which are abundant in epauletted fruit bats elsewhere in Africa, were detected. Our findings suggest that Hepatocystis infections in bats display diverse regional patterns of distribution and transmission dynamics, that cannot be predicted from host abundance. Nycteria parasites are widely distributed in several African rhinolophid species and Polychromophilus parasites of diverse Miniopterus species worldwide belong to the same parasite species. Highlights • Nycteria parasite infections are common and widespread in African Rhinolophus bats • Polychromophilus of Miniopterus spp. represent the same species (or species complex) • Hepatocystis parasites are absent from epauletted fruit bats in South-Central Gabon [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria parasites belong to the diverse apicomplexan order Haemospororida and use a variety of vertebrate and dipteran hosts worldwide. Recently, the utilization of molecular methods has resulted in a burst of newly discovered and rediscovered taxa infecting mammalian hosts, particularly in apes, ungulates, and bats. Additional study of these diverse mammal-infecting taxa is crucial for better understanding the evolutionary history of malaria parasites, especially given that most previous comparative phylogenetic analyses have tended to use both limited taxon sampling and a small set of genetic loci, resulting in weakly supported (and sometimes hotly contested) hypotheses. The ability to generate genomic data from these mammalian parasites, even from subpatent infections, will open up exciting prospects for research on malaria parasites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parasitic protozoan parasites have evolved many co-evolutionary paths towards stable transmission to their host population. Plasmodium spp., the causative agents of malaria, and related haemosporidian parasites are dipteran-borne eukaryotic pathogens that actively invade and use vertebrate erythrocytes for gametogenesis and asexual development, often resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality of the infected hosts. Here, we present results of a survey of insectivorous bats from tropical Africa, including new isolates of species of the haemosporidian genus Nycteria . A hallmark of these parasites is their capacity to infect bat species of distinct families of the two evolutionary distant chiropteran suborders. We did detect Nycteria parasites in both rhinolophid and nycterid bat hosts in geographically separate areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, however our molecular phylogenetic analyses support the separation of the parasites into two distinct clades corresponding to their host genera, suggestive of ancient co-divergence and low levels of host switching. For one clade of these parasites, cytochrome b genes could not be amplified and cytochrome oxidase I sequences showed unusually high rates of evolution, suggesting that the mitochondrial genome of these parasites may have either been lost or substantially altered. This haemosporidian parasite-mammalian host system also highlights that sequential population expansion in the liver and gametocyte formation is a successful alternative to intermediate erythrocytic replication cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]