Supplementary files of the manuscript "Avian malaria on Madagascar: prevalence, biodiversity and specialization of haemosporidian parasites" by S. Musa, U. Mackenstedt, F. Woog and A. Dinkel published in International Journal for Parasitology

Supplementary files of Avian malaria on Madagascar: prevalence, biodiversity and specialization of haemosporidian parasites Abstract: Previous studies about geographic patterns of species diversity of avian haemosporidian parasites did not include the avian biodiversity hotspot Madagascar. Since there are only few data available on avian malaria parasites on Madagascar we conducted the first large-scale molecular based study to investigate their biodiversity. 1,067 samples of 55 bird species were examined by a PCR method amplifying nearly the whole haemosporidian cytochrome b gene (1,063 bp). The parasite lineages found were further characterized phylogenetically and additionally the degree of specialization was determined with a newly introduced "Host-diversity" index (Hd). Our results demonstrate that Madagascar indeed represents a biodiversity hotspot for avian haemosporidian parasites as we detected 88 genetically distinct parasite lineages. Furthermore, by using a phylogenetic approach and including the sequence divergence we were able to assign the lineages to 29 groups i.e. supposed species. The here presented Hd-values for each parasite regarding host species, genus and family strongly support previous works demonstrating the elastic host ranges of some avian Haemosporida. In general, Plasmodium and Leucocytozoon species seem to be generalists whereas Haemoproteus species might be considered specialists. However, as demonstrated in various examples, single parasite species or lineages can deviate from this rule and should be examined individually.

马达加斯加禽疟：血孢子虫寄生虫的流行率、生物多样性与特化性 补充材料
摘要：既往针对禽血孢子虫寄生虫物种多样性地理分布格局的研究，均未纳入鸟类生物多样性热点地区马达加斯加。鉴于目前关于马达加斯加禽疟寄生虫的可用数据极少，本研究开展了首个大规模基于分子技术的调查，以探究其生物多样性。本研究对55种鸟类的1067份样本采用聚合酶链式反应（PCR）进行检测，扩增得到近乎完整的血孢子虫细胞色素b基因序列（长度1063 bp）。对检测到的寄生虫谱系开展进一步系统发育特征分析，并通过新提出的“宿主多样性”指数（Host-diversity, Hd）确定其宿主特化程度。研究结果证实，马达加斯加确实是禽血孢子虫寄生虫的生物多样性热点地区：本研究共检出88个遗传特征各异的寄生虫谱系。此外，通过系统发育分析结合序列差异度，我们可将这些谱系划分为29个类群，即推定的物种。本研究给出的各寄生虫针对宿主种、属及科的Hd值，有力支撑了既往研究结论，即部分禽血孢子虫具有弹性宿主范围。总体而言，疟原虫属（Plasmodium）和住白细胞虫属（Leucocytozoon）物种多为泛化宿主，而血变虫属（Haemoproteus）物种则多为特化宿主。但正如多个实例所证实的，单一寄生虫物种或谱系可能违背这一规律，需单独开展针对性研究。