Journal
PARASITOLOGY
Volume 140, Issue 14, Pages 1741-1750Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0031182013000905
Keywords
mtDNA; avian malaria; Hawaii; Plasmodium relictum; next generation sequencing; Integroomer
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Funding
- Biocomplexity of Introduced Avian Diseases in Hawaii: Threats to Biodiversity of Native Forest Ecosystems [NSF DEB 0083944]
- NIH/NCRR IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) the National Institute of General Medical Sciences [8 P20 GM103466-11]
- National Center for Research Resources [5P20RR016467-11]
- National Institutes of Health [P20GM103516]
- National Park Service
- Natural Resource Protection Program (NRPP)
- US Geological Survey Wildlife and Terrestrial Resources Program
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Next-generation 454 sequencing techniques were used to re-examine diversity of mitochondrial cytochrome b lineages of avian malaria (Plasmodium relictum) in Hawaii. We document a minimum of 23 variant lineages of the parasite based on single nucleotide transitional changes, in addition to the previously reported single lineage (GRW4). A new, publicly available portal (Integroomer) was developed for initial parsing of 454 datasets. Mean variant prevalence and frequency was higher in low elevation Hawaii Amakihi (Hemignathus virens) with Avipoxvirus-like lesions (P = 0.001), suggesting that the variants may be biologically distinct. By contrast, variant prevalence and frequency did not differ significantly among mid-elevation Apapane (Himatione sanguinea) with or without lesions (P = 0.691). The low frequency and the lack of detection of variants independent of GRW4 suggest that multiple independent introductions of P. relictum to Hawaii are unlikely. Multiple variants may have been introduced in heteroplasmy with GRW4 or exist within the tandem repeat structure of the mitochondrial genome. The discovery of multiple mitochondrial lineages of P. relictum in Hawaii provides a measure of genetic diversity within a geographically isolated population of this parasite and suggests the origins and evolution of parasite diversity may be more complicated than previously recognized.
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