Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Global phylogeography of the avian malaria pathogen Plasmodium relictum based on MSP1 allelic diversity

Hellgren, Olof LU ; Atkinson, Carter T. ; Bensch, Staffan LU ; Albayrak, Tamer ; Dimitrov, Dimitar ; Ewen, John G. ; Kim, Kyeong Soon ; Lima, Marcos R. ; Martin, Lynn and Palinauskas, Vaidas , et al. (2015) In Ecography 38(8). p.842-850
Abstract
Knowing the genetic variation that occurs in pathogen populations and how it is distributed across geographical areas is essential to understand parasite epidemiology, local patterns of virulence, and evolution of host-resistance. In addition, it is important to identify populations of pathogens that are evolutionarily independent and thus free' to adapt to hosts and environments. Here, we investigated genetic variation in the globally distributed, highly invasive avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum, which has several distinctive mitochondrial haplotyps (cyt b lineages, SGS1, GRW11 and GRW4). The phylogeography of P. relictum was accessed using the highly variable nuclear gene merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), a gene linked to the... (More)
Knowing the genetic variation that occurs in pathogen populations and how it is distributed across geographical areas is essential to understand parasite epidemiology, local patterns of virulence, and evolution of host-resistance. In addition, it is important to identify populations of pathogens that are evolutionarily independent and thus free' to adapt to hosts and environments. Here, we investigated genetic variation in the globally distributed, highly invasive avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum, which has several distinctive mitochondrial haplotyps (cyt b lineages, SGS1, GRW11 and GRW4). The phylogeography of P. relictum was accessed using the highly variable nuclear gene merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), a gene linked to the invasion biology of the parasite. We show that the lineage GRW4 is evolutionarily independent of GRW11 and SGS1 whereas GRW11 and SGS1 share MSP1 alleles and thus suggesting the presence of two distinct species (GRW4 versus SGS1 and GRW11). Further, there were significant differences in the global distribution of MSP1 alleles with differences between GRW4 alleles in the New and the Old World. For SGS1, a lineage formerly believed to have both tropical and temperate transmission, there were clear differences in MSP1 alleles transmitted in tropical Africa compared to the temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Further, we highlight the occurrence of multiple MSP1 alleles in GRW4 isolates from the Hawaiian Islands, where the parasite has contributed to declines and extinctions of endemic forest birds since it was introduced. This study stresses the importance of multiple independent loci for understanding patterns of transmission and evolutionary independence across avian malaria parasites. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Ecography
volume
38
issue
8
pages
842 - 850
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000359310700010
  • scopus:84938750661
ISSN
1600-0587
DOI
10.1111/ecog.01158
project
Malaria in birds
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a9e553e0-abc3-4f6a-bd8d-3912216d0f28 (old id 7978761)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:22:02
date last changed
2024-05-09 06:12:05
@article{a9e553e0-abc3-4f6a-bd8d-3912216d0f28,
  abstract     = {{Knowing the genetic variation that occurs in pathogen populations and how it is distributed across geographical areas is essential to understand parasite epidemiology, local patterns of virulence, and evolution of host-resistance. In addition, it is important to identify populations of pathogens that are evolutionarily independent and thus free' to adapt to hosts and environments. Here, we investigated genetic variation in the globally distributed, highly invasive avian malaria parasite Plasmodium relictum, which has several distinctive mitochondrial haplotyps (cyt b lineages, SGS1, GRW11 and GRW4). The phylogeography of P. relictum was accessed using the highly variable nuclear gene merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), a gene linked to the invasion biology of the parasite. We show that the lineage GRW4 is evolutionarily independent of GRW11 and SGS1 whereas GRW11 and SGS1 share MSP1 alleles and thus suggesting the presence of two distinct species (GRW4 versus SGS1 and GRW11). Further, there were significant differences in the global distribution of MSP1 alleles with differences between GRW4 alleles in the New and the Old World. For SGS1, a lineage formerly believed to have both tropical and temperate transmission, there were clear differences in MSP1 alleles transmitted in tropical Africa compared to the temperate regions of Europe and Asia. Further, we highlight the occurrence of multiple MSP1 alleles in GRW4 isolates from the Hawaiian Islands, where the parasite has contributed to declines and extinctions of endemic forest birds since it was introduced. This study stresses the importance of multiple independent loci for understanding patterns of transmission and evolutionary independence across avian malaria parasites.}},
  author       = {{Hellgren, Olof and Atkinson, Carter T. and Bensch, Staffan and Albayrak, Tamer and Dimitrov, Dimitar and Ewen, John G. and Kim, Kyeong Soon and Lima, Marcos R. and Martin, Lynn and Palinauskas, Vaidas and Ricklefs, Robert and Sehgal, Ravinder N. M. and Valkiunas, Gediminas and Tsuda, Yoshio and Marzal, Alfonso}},
  issn         = {{1600-0587}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{842--850}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ecography}},
  title        = {{Global phylogeography of the avian malaria pathogen Plasmodium relictum based on MSP1 allelic diversity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.01158}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ecog.01158}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}