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Avian Haemosporidian (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) Status in Two Bird Groups (Old-World Flycatchers and Thrushes) of India and Their Phylogenetic Relationships with Other Lineages of the World

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Abstract

Purpose

Avian haemosporidian may affect the host from body damage to the extinction of a population. Knowledge of their status may help in future avifauna conservation plans. Hence, their status in two bird groups of India and their phylogenetic relationships with other known lineages of the world were examined.

Methods

Cytochrome b gene sequences (479 bp) generated from India and available at MalAvi database were used to study the avian haemosporidian prevalence and phylogenetic analysis of lineages at local and world levels.

Results

One common (COLL2) and only once in the study (CYOPOL01, CHD01, CYORUB01, EUMTHA01, GEOCIT01) haemosporidian lineages were discovered. 5.88% prevalence of haemosporidian infection was found in 102 samples belonging to 6 host species. Haemoproteus prevalence was 4.90% across five host species (Phylloscopus trochiloides, Cyornis poliogenys, C. hainanus dialilaemus, C. rubeculoides, Eumiyas thalassinus) and Plasmodium prevalence was 0.98% in Geokichla citrina. Spatial phylogeny at the global level showed that COLL2 lineage, found in C. poliogenys in India, was genetically identical to H. pallidus lineages (COLL2) in parts of Africa, Europe, North America, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The Plasmodium lineage (GEOCIT01) was related to PADOM16 in Egypt, but the sequences were only 93.89% alike.

Conclusions

Four new lineages of Haemoproteus and one of Plasmodium were reported. COLL2 similarity with other H. pallidus lineages may suggest their hosts as possible infection sources.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

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Acknowledgements

The current study was part of the project under UGC-Dr. D.S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme, UGC awarded to the first author (BL/16-17/0151) from March 2017 to March 2020. We acknowledge the Director and Dean, WII for their support. We thank the National Institute of Malaria Research, Dwarka, New Delhi, for sparing the positive Plasmodium DNA sample for the standardization work and the Director, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, CSIR, Jammu, for allowing us to carry out the standardization work of this project. We sincerely thank Professor Trevor Price, the University of Chicago, for his generous support. We thank the Forest department of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Andhra Pradesh, and Meghalaya for granting permission for sample collection.

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Author notes

  1. Ashutosh Singh

    Present address: Division of Avian Physiology and Genetics, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty (PO), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, 641108, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, Central University of Jammu, Rahya-Suchani (Bagla), District Samba, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, 181143, India

    Vipin, Vinita Sharma & Narinder Kumar Tripathi

  2. Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    Ashutosh Singh, Bhim Singh, Chandra Prakash Sharma & Sandeep Kumar Gupta

  3. Laboratory of Host-Parasite Interaction Studies, ICMR-National Institute of Malaria Research, Dwarka, New Delhi, India

    Rajnikant Dixit

  4. Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR), Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, 180001, India

    Sumit G. Gandhi

  5. Forest Department, PCCF, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Dhananjai Mohan

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Supplementary Information

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11686_2022_626_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

Supplementary file1 Cytochrome b gene (479 bp) [24] sequence comparison for the lineages from MalAvi database (COLL2 and PFC1) and from the current study (COLL2 (LM10), CYOPOL01 (LM6), GEOCIT01 (LM16), CHD01 (AS 86), CYORUB01 (AS91) and EUMTHA01 ( AS102)). Dots represent the common nucleotides. (JPG 529 KB)

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Vipin, Singh, A., Sharma, V. et al. Avian Haemosporidian (Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) Status in Two Bird Groups (Old-World Flycatchers and Thrushes) of India and Their Phylogenetic Relationships with Other Lineages of the World. Acta Parasit. 67, 1756–1766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-022-00626-1

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