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How can we determine the molecular clock of malaria parasites?

Bensch, Staffan LU ; Hellgren, Olof LU ; Križanauskienė, Asta ; Palinauskas, Vaidas ; Valkiūnas, Gediminas ; Outlaw, Diana and Ricklefs, Robert E (2013) In Trends in Parasitology 29(8). p.363-369
Abstract
The association of contemporary hosts and their parasites might reflect either cospeciation or more recent shifts among existing hosts. Cospeciation implies that lineages of hosts and parasites diverge in parallel at the same time, but testing this prediction requires time-calibrated phylogenies, which are particularly difficult to obtain in organisms that leave few fossils. It has successively become clear that host shifts have been frequent in the evolutionary history of malaria parasites, but dating these host shifts cannot be done without calibrated phylogenies. Hence, it remains unresolved how long contemporary hosts and vectors have been coevolving with their malaria parasites. This review addresses conflicting rate estimates of... (More)
The association of contemporary hosts and their parasites might reflect either cospeciation or more recent shifts among existing hosts. Cospeciation implies that lineages of hosts and parasites diverge in parallel at the same time, but testing this prediction requires time-calibrated phylogenies, which are particularly difficult to obtain in organisms that leave few fossils. It has successively become clear that host shifts have been frequent in the evolutionary history of malaria parasites, but dating these host shifts cannot be done without calibrated phylogenies. Hence, it remains unresolved how long contemporary hosts and vectors have been coevolving with their malaria parasites. This review addresses conflicting rate estimates of molecular evolution and suggests research directions to aid dating diversification events in malaria parasites. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
apicomplexa, birds, cospeciation, host shifts, mitochondrial DNA, Plasmodium, rate calibration
in
Trends in Parasitology
volume
29
issue
8
pages
363 - 369
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • wos:000323458500003
  • pmid:23648374
  • scopus:84880963227
  • pmid:23648374
ISSN
1471-5007
DOI
10.1016/j.pt.2013.03.011
project
Malaria in birds
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4c8bc76b-f89e-403e-8948-3925c7eca25e (old id 3804859)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 09:52:33
date last changed
2024-03-23 20:07:28
@article{4c8bc76b-f89e-403e-8948-3925c7eca25e,
  abstract     = {{The association of contemporary hosts and their parasites might reflect either cospeciation or more recent shifts among existing hosts. Cospeciation implies that lineages of hosts and parasites diverge in parallel at the same time, but testing this prediction requires time-calibrated phylogenies, which are particularly difficult to obtain in organisms that leave few fossils. It has successively become clear that host shifts have been frequent in the evolutionary history of malaria parasites, but dating these host shifts cannot be done without calibrated phylogenies. Hence, it remains unresolved how long contemporary hosts and vectors have been coevolving with their malaria parasites. This review addresses conflicting rate estimates of molecular evolution and suggests research directions to aid dating diversification events in malaria parasites.}},
  author       = {{Bensch, Staffan and Hellgren, Olof and Križanauskienė, Asta and Palinauskas, Vaidas and Valkiūnas, Gediminas and Outlaw, Diana and Ricklefs, Robert E}},
  issn         = {{1471-5007}},
  keywords     = {{apicomplexa; birds; cospeciation; host shifts; mitochondrial DNA; Plasmodium; rate calibration}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{363--369}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Trends in Parasitology}},
  title        = {{How can we determine the molecular clock of malaria parasites?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2013.03.011}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.pt.2013.03.011}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}