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Molecular detection of Apicomplexan hemoparasites in anurans from Brazil

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Abstract

Amphibians are among the most threatened vertebrate groups in the world, and the main causes include climate change, habitat destruction, and emerging diseases. Herein, we investigated the occurrence and characterized molecularly Apicomplexa in anurans from southeastern Brazil. Forty individuals from seven anuran species were sampled in São Paulo state. In the molecular analyses, one Leptodactylus latrans and one Rhinella diptycha were positive in PCR assays for species of Hepatozoon. Two L. latrans were also positive for coccidian infections (Lankesterella sp. and an unidentified coccidian species). Phylogenetic analysis based on 18S rDNA clustered the sequences detected in anurans from the present study with Hepatozoon spp. detected in reptiles and other anurans from Brazil, albeit they were separate from Hepatozoon haplotypes detected in frogs from Africa and North America. Our study showed, for the first time, the molecular detection of Lankesterella sp. and another coccidian in L. latrans. Additionally, co-infection by different species of Hepatozoon haplotypes and an unidentified coccidian in anurans from Brazil was documented.

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Funding

The authors are thankful to FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation—Process 2018/02753-0) for the financial support and CNPq for the Productivity Grant granted to the MRA (CNPq Process No. 302420/2017-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Morphology and Animal Physiology of the Faculty of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, UNESP-FCAV, Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil

    Daniel de Abreu Reis Ferreira & Cynthia P. A. Prado

  2. Laboratório de Imunoparasitologia, Departamento de Patologia Veterinária, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Campus de Jaboticabal, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, Zona Rural, Jaboticabal, SP, CEP: 14884-900, Brazil

    Lívia Perles, Rosangela Zacarias Machado & Marcos Rogério André

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  1. Daniel de Abreu Reis Ferreira
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  3. Rosangela Zacarias Machado
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  4. Cynthia P. A. Prado
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  5. Marcos Rogério André
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Daniel de Abreu Reis Ferreira, Cynthia Peralta de Almeida Prado, and Lívia Perles. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Daniel de Abreu Reis Ferreira, Lívia Perles, and Marcos Rogério André and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marcos Rogério André.

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All procedures were approved by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio/SISBIO) (license # 19269-1) and by the Ethics Committee on Animal Use (CEUA) of the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (CEUA FCAV # 017379/17). All experiments were conducted in accordance with SISBIO, CEUA FCAV, and CONCEA (National Council for Animal Experimentation Control) guidelines.

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Sequences were deposited in GenBank under submission numbers MK508984–MK508989 and MK503642–MK503648.

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de Abreu Reis Ferreira, D., Perles, L., Machado, R.Z. et al. Molecular detection of Apicomplexan hemoparasites in anurans from Brazil. Parasitol Res 119, 3469–3479 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06835-9

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