title: A restriction enzyme-based assay to distinguish between avian hemosporidians.
abstract: We describe a reliable and relatively inexpensive method for detecting and differentiating between the commonly studied avian blood parasite genera Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and Leucocytozoon. The assay takes advantage of a Haemoproteus-specific restriction site identified by sequencing full mitochondrial genomes from two Haemoproteus and three Plasmodium lineages and an adjacent, genus-specific restriction site identified in Leucocytozoon spp. The assay was sensitive to simulated parasitemias of approximately 8 x 10(-6) per erythrocyte and was 100% accurate in differentiating between parasite genera isolated from a broad geographical and taxonomic sampling of infected hosts.
authors.affiliation: Genetics Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008, USA. beadellj@si.edu
authors.forename: Jon S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Beadell
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Fleischer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*; D001717:Birds; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry*; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel / Q000662:veterinary; D016787:Haemosporida / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011529:Protozoan Infections, Animal / Q000469:parasitology*; D015183:Restriction Mapping / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D016054:DNA, Protozoan