''Plasmodium billbrayi'' is a parasite of the genus ''
Plasmodium
''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a ver ...
'' subgenus ''
Laverania
''Laverania'' is a subgenus of the parasite genus ''Plasmodium''. Infection with these species results in malaria. The subgenus was first described in 1958.
The name was first proposed by Welch in 1897 as a genus name for the group now known as ...
''.
''P. billbrayi'' is
phylogenetically very close to ''
Plasmodium gaboni
''Plasmodium gaboni'' is a parasite of the genus ''Plasmodium'' subgenus ''Laverania''.
''P. gaboni'' was given its name in reference to Gabon, where the parasite was discovered in two wild-borne chimpanzees kept as pets in villages in that co ...
'',
with both sharing a recent common ancestor.
The parasite is named in honour of the distinguished malariologist “Bill” Robert Stow Bray (1923–2008).
Taxonomy
''Plasmodium billbrayi'' was first described along with ''
Plasmodium billcollinsi'' by Krief ''et al.'' in February 2010, by sequencing the whole ''Plasmodium''
mitochondrial genome
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial ...
in chimpanzees.
Distribution
This species is found in East Africa.
Hosts
''Plasmodium billbrayi'' infects
common chimpanzees (''Pan troglodytes'') and
Eastern chimpanzee
The eastern chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii'') is a subspecies of the common chimpanzee. It is native to the Central African Republic, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania.
Taxono ...
s (''Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii'').
See also
*
List of Plasmodium species infecting primates
References
billbrayi
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