Journal
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY
Volume 31, Issue 9, Pages 2730-2751Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/mec.16421
Keywords
coinfection; haemosporidians; high-throughput sequencing; next-generation sequencing; NGS; Trichomonas gallinae
Funding
- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB, UK)
- Natural England as part of the Action for Birds in England partnership
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), National Biomolecular Analysis Facility at the University of Sheffield [NBAF873]
- British Ornithologists' Union
- African Bird Club
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Investigating parasite coinfections in European turtle doves revealed high diversity in T. gallinae strains, with significant spatiotemporal turnover and common coinfections with haemosporidians. The study suggests potential interactions between different parasite strains and highlights the need for longitudinal studies to fully understand coinfection epidemiology in natural populations.
Understanding the frequency, spatiotemporal dynamics and impacts of parasite coinfections is fundamental to developing control measures and predicting disease impacts. The European turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur) is one of Europe's most threatened bird species. High prevalence of infection by the protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae has previously been identified, but the role of this and other coinfecting parasites in turtle dove declines remains unclear. Using a high-throughput sequencing approach, we identified seven strains of T. gallinae, including two novel strains, from ITS1/5.8S/ITS2 ribosomal sequences in turtle doves on breeding and wintering grounds, with further intrastrain variation and four novel subtypes revealed by the iron-hydrogenase gene. High spatiotemporal turnover was observed in T. gallinae strain composition, and infection was prevalent in all populations (89%-100%). Coinfection by multiple Trichomonas strains was rarer than expected (1% observed compared to 38.6% expected), suggesting either within-host competition, or high mortality of coinfected individuals. In contrast, coinfection by multiple haemosporidians was common (43%), as was coinfection by haemosporidians and T. gallinae (90%), with positive associations between strains of T. gallinae and Leucocytozoon suggesting a mechanism such as parasite-induced immune modulation. We found no evidence for negative associations between coinfections and host body condition. We suggest that longitudinal studies involving the recapture and investigation of infection status of individuals over their lifespan are crucial to understand the epidemiology of coinfections in natural populations.
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