PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
BACKGROUND: Haemosporidian parasites of the genus Polychromophilus infect bats worldwide. They are vectored by obligate ectoparasitic bat flies of the family Nycteribiidae. Despite their global distribution, only five Polychromophilus morphospecies have been described to date. The two predominant species, Polychromophilus melanipherus and Polychromophilus murinus, are broadly distributed and mainly infect miniopterid and vespertilionid bats, respectively. In areas where species from different bat families aggregate together, the infection dynamics and ability of either Polychromophilus species to infect other host families is poorly characterized.
METHODS: We collected 215 bat flies from two bat species, Miniopterus schreibersii and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, which sometimes form mixed clusters in Serbia. Miniopterus schreibersii is known to be frequently infected with P. melanipherus, whereas R. ferrumequinum has been observed to be incidentally infected with both Polychromophilus species. All flies were screened for Polychromophilus infections using a PCR targeting the haemosporidian cytb gene. Positive samples were subsequently sequenced for 579 bp of cytochrome b (cytb) and 945 bp of cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1).
RESULTS: Polychromophilus melanipherus DNA was detected at six out of nine sampling locations and in all three examined bat fly species collected from M. schreibersii (Nycteribia schmidlii, n = 21; Penicillidia conspicua, n = 8; Penicillidia dufourii, n = 3). Four and five haplotypes were found for cytb and cox1, respectively. Evidence for multiple Polychromophilus haplotypes was found in 15 individual flies. These results point to a high diversity of P. melanipherus parasites in Miniopterus hosts and efficient transmission throughout the study area. A single Phthiridium biarticulatum bat fly collected from R. ferrumequinum screened positive for P. melanipherus, but only yielded a partial cox1 sequence fragment. Nevertheless, this result suggests that secondary hosts (both bat and fly species) are regularly confronted with this parasite.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide new insights into the prevalence and distribution of Polychromophilus parasites in European bats and their nycteribiid vectors. The use of bat flies for the non-invasive investigation of Polychromophilus infections in bat populations has proven to be efficient and thus represents an alternative for large-scale studies of infections in bat populations without the need to invasively collect blood from bats.
METHODS: We collected 215 bat flies from two bat species, Miniopterus schreibersii and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, which sometimes form mixed clusters in Serbia. Miniopterus schreibersii is known to be frequently infected with P. melanipherus, whereas R. ferrumequinum has been observed to be incidentally infected with both Polychromophilus species. All flies were screened for Polychromophilus infections using a PCR targeting the haemosporidian cytb gene. Positive samples were subsequently sequenced for 579 bp of cytochrome b (cytb) and 945 bp of cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1).
RESULTS: Polychromophilus melanipherus DNA was detected at six out of nine sampling locations and in all three examined bat fly species collected from M. schreibersii (Nycteribia schmidlii, n = 21; Penicillidia conspicua, n = 8; Penicillidia dufourii, n = 3). Four and five haplotypes were found for cytb and cox1, respectively. Evidence for multiple Polychromophilus haplotypes was found in 15 individual flies. These results point to a high diversity of P. melanipherus parasites in Miniopterus hosts and efficient transmission throughout the study area. A single Phthiridium biarticulatum bat fly collected from R. ferrumequinum screened positive for P. melanipherus, but only yielded a partial cox1 sequence fragment. Nevertheless, this result suggests that secondary hosts (both bat and fly species) are regularly confronted with this parasite.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide new insights into the prevalence and distribution of Polychromophilus parasites in European bats and their nycteribiid vectors. The use of bat flies for the non-invasive investigation of Polychromophilus infections in bat populations has proven to be efficient and thus represents an alternative for large-scale studies of infections in bat populations without the need to invasively collect blood from bats.
摘要：
背景：嗜多色菌属的红孢子虫寄生虫在世界范围内感染蝙蝠。它们由Nycteribiidae科的专性外寄生蝙蝠蝇进行遗传。尽管它们分布在全球，迄今为止，仅描述了五种嗜多色菌形态物种。这两个主要物种，黑色素嗜多色菌和murinus嗜多色菌，分布广泛，主要感染小鳞翅目和白鳞翅目蝙蝠，分别。在不同蝙蝠科的物种聚集在一起的地区，任何一种嗜多色菌物种感染其他宿主家族的感染动力学和能力均未得到充分表征。
方法：我们从两种蝙蝠中收集了215只蝙蝠，小翅目和费若梅昆虫,有时在塞尔维亚形成混合集群。已知微小的schreibersii经常感染黑色素单胞菌，而已观察到R.Feermequinum偶然感染了两种嗜多色菌。使用靶向血孢菌cytb基因的PCR筛选所有果蝇的嗜多色菌感染。随后对阳性样品进行了579bp的细胞色素b（cytb）和945bp的细胞色素氧化酶亚基1（cox1）的测序。
结果：在9个采样位置中的6个以及从M.schreibersii（Nycteribiaschmidlii，n=21；醒目青霉，n=8；杜福瑞青霉，n=3)。cytb和cox1分别发现了四种和五种单倍型。在15只果蝇中发现了多种嗜多色菌单倍型的证据。这些结果表明，小翅目宿主中黑色素假单胞菌寄生虫的多样性很高，并且在整个研究区域内有效传播。从R.errumequinum收集的单个Phiridiumbiarticatum蝙蝠蝇筛查为黑色素假单胞菌阳性，但只产生了部分cox1序列片段。然而，这一结果表明，次级宿主（蝙蝠和苍蝇物种）经常面对这种寄生虫。
结论：这项研究的结果为欧洲蝙蝠及其线虫载体中嗜多色菌寄生虫的患病率和分布提供了新的见解。使用蝙蝠蝇对蝙蝠种群中的嗜多色菌感染进行非侵入性研究已被证明是有效的，因此代表了对蝙蝠种群中的感染进行大规模研究的替代方案，而无需从蝙蝠中侵入性地收集血液。
方法：我们从两种蝙蝠中收集了215只蝙蝠，小翅目和费若梅昆虫,有时在塞尔维亚形成混合集群。已知微小的schreibersii经常感染黑色素单胞菌，而已观察到R.Feermequinum偶然感染了两种嗜多色菌。使用靶向血孢菌cytb基因的PCR筛选所有果蝇的嗜多色菌感染。随后对阳性样品进行了579bp的细胞色素b（cytb）和945bp的细胞色素氧化酶亚基1（cox1）的测序。
结果：在9个采样位置中的6个以及从M.schreibersii（Nycteribiaschmidlii，n=21；醒目青霉，n=8；杜福瑞青霉，n=3)。cytb和cox1分别发现了四种和五种单倍型。在15只果蝇中发现了多种嗜多色菌单倍型的证据。这些结果表明，小翅目宿主中黑色素假单胞菌寄生虫的多样性很高，并且在整个研究区域内有效传播。从R.errumequinum收集的单个Phiridiumbiarticatum蝙蝠蝇筛查为黑色素假单胞菌阳性，但只产生了部分cox1序列片段。然而，这一结果表明，次级宿主（蝙蝠和苍蝇物种）经常面对这种寄生虫。
结论：这项研究的结果为欧洲蝙蝠及其线虫载体中嗜多色菌寄生虫的患病率和分布提供了新的见解。使用蝙蝠蝇对蝙蝠种群中的嗜多色菌感染进行非侵入性研究已被证明是有效的，因此代表了对蝙蝠种群中的感染进行大规模研究的替代方案，而无需从蝙蝠中侵入性地收集血液。
