Host specificity of Hepatocystis infection in short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus brachyotis) in Singapore

Dolyce H W Low; Alan T Hitch; Maggie M Skiles; Sophie A Borthwick; Erica S Neves; Zong Xian Lim; Benjamin P Y-H Lee; Yvonne C F Su; Gavin J D Smith; Ian H Mendenhall

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.04.001

Host specificity of Hepatocystis infection in short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus brachyotis) in Singapore

Int J Parasitol Parasites Wildl. 2021 Apr 15:15:35-42. doi: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2021.04.001. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Authors

Dolyce H W Low^{1

2}, Alan T Hitch³, Maggie M Skiles⁴, Sophie A Borthwick¹, Erica S Neves¹, Zong Xian Lim⁵, Benjamin P Y-H Lee⁶, Yvonne C F Su¹, Gavin J D Smith^{1

7

8}, Ian H Mendenhall^{1

8}

Affiliations

¹ Programme in Emerging Infectious Disease, Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, 169857, Singapore.
² National University of Singapore Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, Singapore.
³ Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
⁴ College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1060 William Moore Dr, Raleigh, NC, 27606, USA.
⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore.
⁶ Wildlife Management Division, National Parks Board, 1 Cluny Rd, 259569, Singapore.
⁷ Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
⁸ SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute, SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, Singapore.

Abstract

Haemosporidians infect a wide diversity of bat genera and species, yet little is known about their transmission cycles or epidemiology. Though several recent studies have focused on the genus Hepatocystis, an Old World parasite primarily infecting bats, monkeys, and squirrels, this group is still understudied with little known about its transmission and molecular ecology. These parasites lack an asexual erythrocytic stage, making them unique from the Plasmodium vertebrate life cycle. In this study, we detected a prevalence of 31% of Hepatocystis in short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus brachyotis) in Singapore. Phylogenetic reconstruction with a partial cytochrome b sequence revealed a monophyletic group of Hepatocystis from C. brachyotis in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. There was no relationship with infection and bat age, sex, location, body condition or monsoon season. The absence of this parasite in the five other bat species sampled in Singapore indicates this Hepatocystis species may be host restricted.

Keywords: Bat; Ecology; Evolution; Haemosporidia; Hepatocystis; Host specificity; Singapore.