Premium
A Sarcocystid Misidentified as Hepatozoon didelphydis : Molecular Data from a Parasitic Infection in the Blood of the Southern Mouse Opossum ( Thylamys elegans ) from Chile
Author(s) -
MERINO SANTIAGO,
VÁSQUEZ RODRIGO A.,
MARTÍNEZ JAVIER,
CELISDIEZ JUAN L.,
MARTÍNEZDE LA PUENTE JOSUÉ,
MARÍNVIAL PAULA,
SÁNCHEZMONSALVEZ INOCENCIA,
PEIRCE MICHAEL A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of eukaryotic microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 1066-5234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2008.00358.x
Subject(s) - biology , hepatozoon , opossum , parasite hosting , ribosomal dna , zoology , phylogenetic tree , apicomplexa , genetics , anatomy , plasmodium falciparum , ecology , gene , immunology , malaria , world wide web , computer science , canis
. The blood of 21 adult South American mouse opossums ( Thylamys elegans ) captured from April through August of 2005 in central Chile was examined for parasites. Light microscopic analysis of blood smears initially suggested that a highly pleomorphic Hepatozoon species typical of American opossums was infecting erythrocytes. Unexpectedly, amplification by PCR and sequencing of a DNA fragment of the small subunit rDNA combined with phylogenetic analyses indicated that the parasite is not a member of the suborder Adeleorina, which includes the Haemogregarina and Hepatozoon species, but that it is a clearly distinct member of the suborder Eimeriorina, which includes the cyst‐forming family Sarcocystidae. Therefore, a reclassification of this unusual intraerythrocytic apicomplexan will require additional life cycle, microscopic, and molecular analyses.