Wild bonobos host geographically restricted malaria parasites including a putative new Laverania species

Weimin Liu, Scott Sherrill-Mix, Gerald H. Learn, Erik J. Scully, Yingying Li, Alexa N. Avitto, Dorothy E. Loy, Abigail P. Lauder, Sesh A. Sundararaman, Lindsey J. Plenderleith, Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango, Alexander V. Georgiev, Steve Ahuka-Mundeke, Martine Peeters, Paco Bertolani, Jef Dupain, Cintia Garai, John A. Hart, Terese B. Hart, George M. Shaw, Paul M. Sharp and Beatrice H. Hahn ()
Additional contact information
Weimin Liu: University of Pennsylvania
Scott Sherrill-Mix: University of Pennsylvania
Gerald H. Learn: University of Pennsylvania
Erik J. Scully: Harvard University
Yingying Li: University of Pennsylvania
Alexa N. Avitto: University of Pennsylvania
Dorothy E. Loy: University of Pennsylvania
Abigail P. Lauder: University of Pennsylvania
Sesh A. Sundararaman: University of Pennsylvania
Lindsey J. Plenderleith: University of Edinburgh
Jean-Bosco N. Ndjango: University of Kisangani
Alexander V. Georgiev: Harvard University
Steve Ahuka-Mundeke: University of Kinshasa
Martine Peeters: Unité Mixte Internationale 233, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), INSERM U1175, University of Montpellier 1
Paco Bertolani: University of Cambridge
Jef Dupain: African Wildlife Foundation Conservation Centre
Cintia Garai: Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project
John A. Hart: Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project
Terese B. Hart: Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba Project
George M. Shaw: University of Pennsylvania
Paul M. Sharp: University of Edinburgh
Beatrice H. Hahn: University of Pennsylvania

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Malaria parasites, though widespread among wild chimpanzees and gorillas, have not been detected in bonobos. Here, we show that wild-living bonobos are endemically Plasmodium infected in the eastern-most part of their range. Testing 1556 faecal samples from 11 field sites, we identify high prevalence Laverania infections in the Tshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba (TL2) area, but not at other locations across the Congo. TL2 bonobos harbour P. gaboni, formerly only found in chimpanzees, as well as a potential new species, Plasmodium lomamiensis sp. nov. Rare co-infections with non-Laverania parasites were also observed. Phylogenetic relationships among Laverania species are consistent with co-divergence with their gorilla, chimpanzee and bonobo hosts, suggesting a timescale for their evolution. The absence of Plasmodium from most field sites could not be explained by parasite seasonality, nor by bonobo population structure, diet or gut microbiota. Thus, the geographic restriction of bonobo Plasmodium reflects still unidentified factors that likely influence parasite transmission.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01798-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-01798-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01798-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().