Highly rearranged mitochondrial genome in Nycteria parasites (Haemosporidia) from bats.
Haemosporidia parasites have mostly and abundantly been described using mitochondrial genes, and in particular cytochrome b (cytb). Failure to amplify the mitochondrial cytb gene of Nycteria parasites isolated from Nycteridae bats has been recently reported. Bats are hosts to a diverse and profuse array of Haemosporidia parasites that remain largely unstudied. There is a need to obtain more molecular data from chiropteran parasites. Such data would help to better understand the evolutionary history of Haemosporidia, which notably include the Plasmodium parasites, malaria's agents. We use next-generation sequencing to obtain the complete mitochondrial genome of Nycteria parasites from African Nycteris grandis (Nycteridae) and Rhinolophus alcyone (Rhinolophidae) and Asian Megaderma spasma (Megadermatidae). We report four complete mitochondrial genomes, including two rearranged mitochondrial genomes within Haemosporidia. Our results open outlooks into potentially undiscovered Haemosporidian diversity.
Unité Molécules de Communication et Adaptation des Microorganismes (UMR 7245), Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, CP52, 75005 Paris, France Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (UMR 7205), Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, CP51, 75005 Paris, France Unité de Génétique et Génomique des Insectes Vecteurs (CNRS URA3012), Département de Parasites et Insectes Vecteurs, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France Faculté des Sciences, Université de Kisangani, BP 2012 Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo Laboratoire de Biologie Cellulaire Comparative des Apicomplexes, Faculté de Médicine, Université Paris Descartes, Inserm U1016, CNRS UMR 8104, Cochin Institute, 75014 Paris, France Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 fjayala@uci.edu lduval@mnhn.fr. Unité Molécules de Communication et Adaptation des Microorganismes (UMR 7245), Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, CP52, 75005 Paris, France Unité Molécules de Communication et Adaptation des Microorganismes (UMR 7245), Sorbonne Universités, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, CP52, 75005 Paris, France; fjayala@uci.edu lduval@mnhn.fr.
