Abstract
We genetically analyzed avian malaria (Protozoa) isolated from lesser kestrels (Falco naumanni) breeding in La Mancha, Central Spain. A total of 586 adult individuals were screened for blood parasites using a very efficient polymerase chain reaction approach that amplifies a partial segment (498 bp) of the cytochrome b gene of avian malaria of the genera Haemoproteus and Plasmodium. The prevalence of Plasmodium was 8.2%, and the prevalence of Haemoproteus was 4.1%. Sequence analyses revealed six unique lineages of avian malaria, three Plasmodium (LK5, LK6, RTSR1) and three Haemoproteus (LK2, LK3, LK4). According to sequence divergence, these lineages seem to correspond to at least three different species, although all recovered lineages could be independent evolutionary units. The third most common lineage (RTSR1) has been previously retrieved from two other avian host species, including a resident African bird species and a trans-Saharan migrant passerine, suggesting that lesser kestrels could acquire this Plasmodium lineage at their winter quarters in Africa.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Apanius V, Kirkpatrick CE (1988) Preliminary report of Haemoproteus tinnunculi infection in a breeding population of American kestrels (Falco sparverius). J Wildl Dis 24:150–153
Bensch S, Stjernman M, Hasselquist D, Östman Ö, Hansson B, Westerdahl H, Torres-Pinheiro R (2000) Host specificity in avian blood parasites: a study of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus mitochondrial DNA amplified from birds. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 267:1583–1589
Bensch S, Pérez-Tris J, Waldenström J, Hellgren O (2004) Linkage between nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences in avian malaria parasites—multiple cases of cryptic speciation? Evolution 58:1617–1621
Bensch S, Waldenström J, Jozén N, Westerdahl H, Hansson B, Sejberg D, Hasselquist D (2007) Temporal dynamics and diversity of avian malaria parasites in a single host species. J Anim Ecol 76:112–122
Biber JP (1990) Action plan for the conservation of western lesser kestrel Falco naumanni populations. ICBP, Cambridge
Hall TA (1999) BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. Nucleic Acids Symp Ser 41:95–98
Ortego J, Espada F (2007) Ecological factors influencing disease risk in eagle owls Bubo bubo. Ibis 149:386–395
Ortego J, Calabuig G, Cordero PJ, Aparicio JM (2007) Egg production and individual genetic diversity in lesser kestrels. Mol Ecol (in press) DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03322.x
Swofford DL (1993) PAUP: phylogenetic analysis using parsimony. Mac version 3.1.1 (computer program and manual). Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign
Tella JL, Forero MG, Gajon A, Hiraldo F, Donazar JA (1996) Absence of blood-parasitization effects on lesser kestrel fitness. Auk 113:253–256
Tella JL, Blanco G, Forero MG, Gajon A, Donazar JA, Hiraldo F (1999) Habitat, world geographic range, and embryonic development of hosts explain the prevalence of avian hematozoa at small spatial and phylogenetic scales. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96:1785–1789
Thompson JD, Higgins DG, Gibson TJ (1994) CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Res 22:4673–4680
Waldenström J, Bensch S, Kiboi S, Hasselquist D, Ottosson U (2002) Cross-species infection of blood parasites between resident and migratory songbirds in Africa. Mol Ecol 11:1545–1554
Waldenström J, Bensch S, Hasselquist D, Östman Ö (2004) A new nested PCR method very efficient in detecting Plasmodium and Haemoproteus infections from avian blood. J Parasitol 90:191–194
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank L. Zapero for determining blood parasite prevalence and intensities of infections in the blood smears. E. Ferrero assisted us with the program PAUP. We manipulated and banded lesser kestrels under license from the Spanish institutional authorities (Environmental Agency of the Community of Castilla—La Mancha and the Ringing Office of the Ministry of Environment), and we followed general ethical guidelines for animal welfare and nature conservation. We performed all the laboratory work at the Laboratory of Genetics of the IREC, and sequencing was performed by the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas (CSIC) of Madrid. This work received financial support from the projects: CGL2005-05611-C02-02/BOS (MEC) and PAI05-053 (JCCM). During this work, J.O and G.C. were supported by predoctoral fellowships from the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla—La Mancha and the European Social Fund.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ortego, J., Calabuig, G., Cordero, P.J. et al. Genetic characterization of avian malaria (Protozoa) in the endangered lesser kestrel, Falco naumanni . Parasitol Res 101, 1153–1156 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0575-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-007-0575-y