Abstract
We studied the prevalence and genetic diversity of malaria parasites in the poorly investigated spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) breeding in central Spain, aiming to describe the phylogenetic relationships among them and with other haemosporidians infecting the genus Sturnus. A total of 180 nestlings and 180 adult individuals from four different breeding seasons were screened for haemosporidian parasites using a nested PCR approach for the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus. Although the malaria prevalence ranged between years, the overall prevalence was 6.94%. Adults had a higher prevalence than chicks: 12.77 vs. 1.11%, respectively. We molecularly characterized avian malaria isolated in peripheral blood samples taken from malaria-infected individuals. Sequence analyses revealed four unique Plasmodium lineages of avian malaria (STURUNI01, STURUNI02, SYAT05, SGS1) in our spotless starling population. The phylogenetic analysis showed a well-supported clade comprised by STURUNI01, STURUNI02, and SYAT05. The most common lineage (SYAT05) has been previously found in 26 other avian host species, including populations of spotless starling in Portugal. Because this sedentary species is widely distributed throughout the Iberian Peninsula, we suggest that the local transmission of these lineages might place migratory birds at infection risk.
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Acknowledgments
This study was financed by the projects CGL2008-03501 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación) to DG and CGL2015-6465P (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) and IB16121 (Junta de Extremadura) to AM. JM was supported by a FPI grant (BES-2009-021383) from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN). We performed all the laboratory work at the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews and the Department of Zoology at the University of Extremadura. Sequencing was performed by the Gene Pool Sequencing facility, University of Edinburgh. The authors appreciate the technical and human support provided by Facility of Bioscience Applied Techniques of SAIUEx (financed by UEx, Junta de Extremadura, MICINN, FEDER, and FSE). The authors would like to thank sincerely Dr. A. Pérez-Rodríguez for his useful guidelines in interpreting sequences and identifying new lineages. We also thank two anonymous referees for their constructive suggestions that helped to improve our study.
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All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. Capture and manipulation of birds were authorized by the Consejería de Medio Ambiente (Comunidad de Madrid, Spain) under licence from the Spanish institutional authorities (Consejería de Medio Ambiente 10/0245533.09/13; and 11009 ringing licence to DG from Centro de Migración de Aves de SEO/BirdLife). Permission to work in the study area was granted by the Ayuntamiento de Soto del Real, Spain.
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Muriel, J., Graves, J.A., Gil, D. et al. Molecular characterization of avian malaria in the spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor). Parasitol Res 117, 919–928 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-5748-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-018-5748-3