Plasmodium odocoilei

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Plasmodium odocoilei
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Clade: Alveolata
Phylum: Apicomplexa
Class: Aconoidasida
Order: Haemospororida
Family: Plasmodiidae
Genus: Plasmodium
Species:
P. odocoilei
Binomial name
Plasmodium odocoilei
Garnham and Kuttler, 1980

Plasmodium odocoilei is a species of parasites, that causes malaria in white-tailed deer. [1]

Contents

Taxonomy

This species was discovered in 1967 in Texas and formally named in 1980. [2] It was rediscovered again in North America in 2016. [3]

This species is a member of the subgenus Vinckeia of the genus Plasmodium. The genus Plasmodium is most closely related to Polychromophilus . The relation between these genera is under debate at present and a revision of the taxonomy seems likely to be required.

From this study it seems that Plasmodium odocoilei belongs to a clade that is most closely related to Polychromophilus. [4] This study was based on mitochondria, plastid and nuclear genes which makes it likely to have the correct topology.

Molecular genetic studies have shown that this species is actually at least two separate species that diverged between 2.3  million years ago to 6  million years ago.

Description

This species has large vacuoles in the erythroctic stages. It causes deformation and discolouration of the host erythrocyte.

Vectors

Hosts

This species has been detected in while-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) in the eastern United States. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Plasmodium</i> Genus of parasitic protists that can cause malaria

Plasmodium is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of Plasmodium species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vertebrate host during a blood meal. Parasites grow within a vertebrate body tissue before entering the bloodstream to infect red blood cells. The ensuing destruction of host red blood cells can result in malaria. During this infection, some parasites are picked up by a blood-feeding insect, continuing the life cycle.

<i>Anopheles</i> Genus of mosquito

Anopheles or Marsh Mosquitoes is a genus of mosquito first described and named by J. W. Meigen in 1818. About 460 species are recognized; while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas. Anopheles gambiae is one of the best known, because of its predominant role in the transmission of the most dangerous malaria parasite species – Plasmodium falciparum.

<i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> Protozoan species of malaria parasite

Plasmodium falciparum is a unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of Plasmodium that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito and causes the disease's most dangerous form, falciparum malaria. It is responsible for around 50% of all malaria cases. P. falciparum is therefore regarded as the deadliest parasite in humans. It is also associated with the development of blood cancer and is classified as a Group 2A (probable) carcinogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-tailed deer</span> Species of hooved mammal

The white-tailed deer, also known commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia, where it predominately inhabits high mountain terrains of the Andes. It has also been introduced to New Zealand, all the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, and some countries in Europe, such as the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Serbia. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed wild ungulate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plasmodiidae</span> Family of apicomplexan protists

The Plasmodiidae are a family of apicomplexan parasites, including the type genus Plasmodium, which is responsible for malaria. This family was erected in 1903 by Mesnil and is one of the four families in the order Haemospororida.

<i>Plasmodium ovale</i> Species of single-celled organism

Plasmodium ovale is a species of parasitic protozoon that causes tertian malaria in humans. It is one of several species of Plasmodium parasites that infect humans, including Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax which are responsible for most cases of malaria in the world. P. ovale is rare compared to these two parasites, and substantially less dangerous than P. falciparum.

<i>Plasmodium knowlesi</i> Species of single-celled organism

Plasmodium knowlesi is a parasite that causes malaria in humans and other primates. It is found throughout Southeast Asia, and is the most common cause of human malaria in Malaysia. Like other Plasmodium species, P. knowlesi has a life cycle that requires infection of both a mosquito and a warm-blooded host. While the natural warm-blooded hosts of P. knowlesi are likely various Old World monkeys, humans can be infected by P. knowlesi if they are fed upon by infected mosquitoes. P. knowlesi is a eukaryote in the phylum Apicomplexa, genus Plasmodium, and subgenus Plasmodium. It is most closely related to the human parasite Plasmodium vivax as well as other Plasmodium species that infect non-human primates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippoboscidae</span> Family of insects (louse flies/keds)

Hippoboscidae, the louse flies or keds, are obligate parasites of mammals and birds. In this family, the winged species can fly at least reasonably well, though others with vestigial or no wings are flightless and highly apomorphic. As usual in their superfamily Hippoboscoidea, most of the larval development takes place within the mother's body, and pupation occurs almost immediately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pecora</span> Infraorder of mammals

Pecora is an infraorder of even-toed hoofed mammals with ruminant digestion. Most members of Pecora have cranial appendages projecting from their frontal bones; only two extant genera lack them, Hydropotes and Moschus. The name "Pecora" comes from the Latin word pecus, which means "cattle". Although most pecorans have cranial appendages, only some of these are properly called "horns", and many scientists agree that these appendages did not arise from a common ancestor, but instead evolved independently on at least two occasions. Likewise, while Pecora as a group is supported by both molecular and morphological studies, morphological support for interrelationships between pecoran families is disputed.

Vinckeia is a subgenus of the genus Plasmodium — all of which are parasitic alveolates. The subgenus Vinckeia was created by Cyril Garnham in 1964 to accommodate the mammalian parasites other than those infecting the primates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of malaria</span> History of malaria infections

The history of malaria extends from its prehistoric origin as a zoonotic disease in the primates of Africa through to the 21st century. A widespread and potentially lethal human infectious disease, at its peak malaria infested every continent except Antarctica. Its prevention and treatment have been targeted in science and medicine for hundreds of years. Since the discovery of the Plasmodium parasites which cause it, research attention has focused on their biology as well as that of the mosquitoes which transmit the parasites.

Monodontus is a genus of parasitic nematodes in the subfamily Bunostominae of family Ancylostomatidae. Most of its species occur in rodents and suids, but Monodontus louisianensis is from the white-tailed deer and Monodontus giraffae from the giraffe. An unspecified Monodontus has been recorded from the marsh rice rat in Florida.

Polychromophilus is a genus of obligate intracellular eukaryotic parasites that infect bats from every continent except Antarctica. They are transmitted by bat flies, which act as an insect vector as well as the parasite’s site of sporogeny. Polychromophilus follows a fairly typical Haemospororidian lifecycle, with gametocytes and gametes restricted to the bloodstream of the host and meronts infecting organs – most notably the lungs and the liver. The type species is Polychromophilus melanipherus, and was described by Dionisi in 1898.

Nycteria is a genus of protozoan parasites that belong to the phylum Apicomplexa. It is composed of vector-borne haemosporidian parasites that infect a wide range of mammals such as primates, rodents and bats. Its vertebrate hosts are bats. First described by Garnham and Heisch in 1953, Nycteria is mostly found in bat species where it feeds off the blood of their hosts and causes disease. Within the host, Nycteria develops into peculiar lobulated schizonts in parenchyma cells of the liver, similarly to the stages of Plasmodium falciparum in the liver. The vector of Nycteria has been hard to acquire and identify. Because of this, the life cycle of Nycteria still remains unknown and understudied. It has been suggested that this vector could be an arthropod other than a mosquito or the vector of most haemosporidian parasites.

<i>Vetufebrus</i> Extinct genus of single-celled organisms

Vetufebrus is an extinct genus of haemospororida in the family Plasmodiidae. At the time of its description the new genus comprised a single species Vetufebrus ovatus known from a single Miocene Dominican amber fossil found on Hispaniola. V. ovatus was vectored by Enischnomyia stegosoma, the first fossil streblid bat fly described from a fossil, and the only member of the subfamily Nycterophiliinae described from Hispaniola. V. ovatus is the first instance of a Streblidae bat fly as a host for a malarial parasite.

Plasmodium gaboni is a parasite of the genus Plasmodium subgenus Laverania.

Susan L. Perkins is an American microbiologist and the Martin and Michele Cohen Dean of Science at The City College of New York (CCNY). Her expertise includes the pathology and genetics of malaria parasites and other haemosporidians infecting myriad non-primate species.

References

  1. Donahue, Michelle (5 February 2016). "Smithsonian study reveals White-tailed deer in Eastern U.S. are infected with a Malaria parasite". Smithsonian Science News. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  2. Garnham, PCC; Kuttler, KL (1980). "A malaria parasite of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and its relation with known species of Plasmodium in other ungulates". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 206 (1165): 395–402. Bibcode:1980RSPSB.206..395G. doi:10.1098/rspb.1980.0003. PMID   6102388. S2CID   22082425.
  3. Lavelle, Marianne (5 February 2016). "Malaria parasite found hiding out in North American deer". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aaf4020.
  4. 1 2 Martinsen, Ellen S. (5 February 2016). "Hidden in plain sight: Cryptic and endemic malaria parasites in North American white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)". Science Advances. 2 (2): e1501486. Bibcode:2016SciA....2E1486M. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501486. PMC   4788485 . PMID   26989785.