title: Ungulate malaria parasites.
abstract: Haemosporida parasites of even-toed ungulates are diverse and globally distributed, but since their discovery in 1913 their characterization has relied exclusively on microscopy-based descriptions. In order to bring molecular approaches to bear on the identity and evolutionary relationships of ungulate malaria parasites, we conducted Plasmodium cytb-specific nested PCR surveys using blood from water buffalo in Vietnam and Thailand, and goats in Zambia. We found that Plasmodium is readily detectable from water buffalo in these countries, indicating that buffalo Plasmodium is distributed in a wider region than India, which is the only area in which buffalo Plasmodium has been reported. Two types (I and II) of Plasmodium sequences were identified from water buffalo and a third type (III) was isolated from goat. Morphology of the parasite was confirmed in Giemsa-reagent stained blood smears for the Type I sample. Complete mitochondrial DNA sequences were isolated and used to infer a phylogeny in which ungulate malaria parasites form a monophyletic clade within the Haemosporida, and branch prior to the clade containing bird, lizard and other mammalian Plasmodium. Thus it is likely that host switching of Plasmodium from birds to mammals occurred multiple times, with a switch to ungulates independently from other mammalian Plasmodium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Protozoology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.|Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical School, New York, New York, 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Templeton
authors.affiliation: Department of Protozoology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asada
authors.affiliation: Parasitology Section, National Institute of Animal Health, Department of Livestock Development, Bangkhen, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Montakan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiratanh
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan.|Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Sohta A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Animal Vector-Borne Diseases Research Group, The Veterinary Parasitology Unit, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
authors.forename: Sonthaya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tiawsirisup
authors.affiliation: National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Thillaiampalam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sivakumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Paraclinical Studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zambia, P.O. Box 32379 Lusaka, Zambia.
authors.forename: Boniface
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Namangala
authors.affiliation: Department of Protozoology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.affiliation: Parasitology Section, National Institute of Animal Health, Department of Livestock Development, Bangkhen, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Kingdao
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mohkaew
authors.affiliation: Parasitology Section, National Institute of Animal Health, Department of Livestock Development, Bangkhen, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors.forename: Supawan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ngamjituea
authors.affiliation: National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Chihiro
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.affiliation: Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan.|Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inagaki
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0818, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.affiliation: The Veterinary Parasitology Unit, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
authors.forename: Morakot
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaewthamasorn
authors.affiliation: Department of Protozoology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8523, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kaneko
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000469:parasitology; D045303:Cytochromes b / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D017125:Genes, Protozoan; D008288:Malaria / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000235:genetics*; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D045303:Cytochromes b