''Plasmodium brasilianum'' is a parasite that infects many species of platyrrhine monkeys in South and Central America.

Description

Sequence analysis of circumsporozoite protein, merozoite surface protein-1, and small subunit ribosomal RNA of ''P. malariae'' and ''P. brasilianum'' showed that the two parasites were very closely related. It is considered plausible that ''P. brasilianum'' in platyrrhines is a result of the cross-species transfer of '' P. malariae'' brought to the New World by settlers in the post-Columbus era. As ''P. malariae'' and ''P. brasilianum'' have now been demonstrated to be genetically identical based on

18S rRNA 18S may refer to: *18S ribosomal RNA *18S rRNA (adenine1779-N6/adenine1780-N6)-dimethyltransferase *18SEH The Family II is a straight-4 piston engine that was originally developed by Opel in the 1970s, debuting in 1979. Available in a wide ran ...

sequences, it has been proposed that ''P. brasilianum'' be subsumed under the name ''P. malariae''.

Distribution

''Plasmodium brasilianum'' naturally infects species of primates from all New World monkey families from a large geographic area in Central and South America. The parasite has been found in Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

Hosts

Natural infection of ''P. brasilianum'' has been found in

tamarin The tamarins are squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Callitrichidae in the genus ''Saguinus''. They are the first offshoot in the Callitrichidae tree, and therefore are the sister group of a clade formed by the lion tamarins, Goel ...

s and

marmoset The marmosets (), also known as zaris or sagoin, are 22 New World monkey species of the genera ''Callithrix'', ''Cebuella'', ''Callibella'', and ''Mico''. All four genera are part of the biological family Callitrichidae. The term "marmoset" is ...

s of the genera ''

Callithrix ''Callithrix'' is a genus of New World monkeys of the family Callitrichidae, the family containing marmosets and tamarins. The genus contains the Atlantic Forest marmosets. The name ''Callithrix'' is derived from the Greek words ''kallos'', me ...

'', ''

Leontopithecus The four species of lion tamarins or maned marmosets make up the genus ''Leontopithecus''. They are small New World monkeys named for the mane surrounding their face, similar to the mane of a lion. Description Living in the eastern rainforests ...

'' and ''

Mico People * Mićo Janić (born 1979), Croatian sprint canoer * Mićo Ljubibratić (1839–1889), Serbian revolutionary * Mico Palanca (1978–2019), Filipino actor * Mićo Smiljanić (born 1974), Serbian/Montenegrin footballer * Mićo Stanišić (born ...

'' in the

Atlantic forest The Atlantic Forest ( pt, Mata Atlântica) is a South American forest that extends along the Atlantic coast of Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte state in the northeast to Rio Grande do Sul state in the south and inland as far as Paraguay and th ...

. Also ''

Anopheles freeborni ''Anopheles freeborni'', commonly known as the western malaria mosquito, is a species of mosquito in the family Culicidae. It is typically found in the western United States and Canada. Adults are brown to black, with yellow-brown hairs and gr ...

'' mosquitoes infected by feeding on a platyrrhine spider monkey ('' Ateles geoffroyi geoffroyi'') from Panama carrying ''P. brasilianum'', have been shown to transmit the parasite through biting to five human volunteers. In addition to humans, ''P. brasilianum'' has been transmissible experimentally to

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q12505733 brazilianum

Description

Distribution

Hosts

See also

References