Molecular Detection of Two New Haemoproteus
Mitochondrial Cytb Lineages in Ciconiform and Charadriiform
Migratory Birds in Turkey
Aykut Zerek1,*, Onur Ceylan2,*, Ipek Erdem1,
Fatma Nuray Simsek1,
Letícia Pereira Úngari3,
Murat Sevik4, Mehmet Yaman1 and Muhammed Enes
Altug5
1Department
of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hatay
Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay-31040,
Turkey; 2Department
of Veterinary Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Selcuk
University, Konya-42130,
Turkey; 3Instituto
de Biociências, Campus de Botucatu, Departamento de Parasitologia,
UNESP-Univ. Estadual Paulista, Distrito de RubiãoJunior, Botucatu,
São Paulo 18618-689, Brazil;
4Department
of Veterinary Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Necmettin
Erbakan University, Ereğli/Konya-42310,
Turkey; 5Department
of Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hatay Mustafa Kemal
University, Hatay-31040,
Turkey
*Corresponding author:
aykutzerek@mku.edu.tr;
onurceylan@selcuk.edu.tr
Abstract
Although some molecular
epidemiological surveys on avian haemosporidian protozoa have been conducted in
Turkey, it is of great importance to increase the number of studies on the
subject in this country, which has important bird migration routes between
Europe and Africa. Hatay province, which is the intersection point of many bird
migration routes in the intercontinental crossing, is a very suitable
geographical location for the investigation of avian haemosporidian protozoa in
a wide variety of bird species that use it as a route. Therefore, this study was
planned to survey Haemoproteus spp., Plasmodium spp., and
Leucocytozoon spp. in migratory birds sampled from this province. The animal
material of the study consisted of Ciconia ciconia (Ciconiformes, n:45),
Ichthyaetus melanocephalus (Charadriiformes, n:2), Pelecanus
onocrotalus (Pelecaniformes, n:5) and Pelecanus crispus (Pelecaniformes,
n:1). Microscopic examinations revealed Haemoproteus spp. gametocytes
(5.66%) in one white stork and two Mediterranean gulls. On the other hand,
nested PCR assay targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome b (Cytb) gene revealed
the presence of Plasmodium/Haemoproteus
spp. in 11.3% (6/53) of migratory birds. Leucocytozoon spp. was not
detected by either microscopy or PCR. PCR-positive products were sequenced
bi-directionally, and the GenBank and MalAvi databases were used for
phylogenetic analysis and lineage identification of the isolates. This study
revealed H-MYCAME08 lineage (OR227579,
OR227580, OR227581, OR227582) in Ciconia ciconia and H-LARCRA01 [H.
(Parahaemoproteus) larae] lineage (OR227577, OR227578) in
Ichthyaetus melanocephalus, respectively. There are no studies investigating
the haemosporidian parasites of these birds in Turkey, and studies on
haemosporidian parasites of these species in different countries are also
limited. Although the Haemoproteus MYCAME08 Cytb lineage has been
demonstrated in ciconiform birds (Ciconidae) and the LARCRA01 lineage in
charadriiform birds (Laridae), this study is unique in terms of reporting these
lineages
in different species in the same families. Inspired by this, we
envisage that the expanding host range of Cytb lineages of haemosporidian
protozoa is an indication that there is still a long way to go with avian
haemosporidian protozoa.
To Cite This Article:
Zerek A, Ceylan O, Erdem I, Simsek FN, Úngari LP, Sevik M, Yaman M and
Altug ME, 2024. Molecular detection of two new Haemoproteusmitochondrial cytb lineages
in ciconiform and charadriiform migratory birds in Turkey. Pak Vet J, 44(2): 298-305. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2024.150