Research Coordination Network for Haemosporida of Terrestrial Vertebrates: A Model Parasite-Host System

血孢子虫属（Haemosporida）是疟疾血液寄生虫，种类繁多且分布广泛，是鸟类、爬行动物和哺乳动物（包括人类和家畜）的主要寄生虫和病原体。尽管它们在生态、进化和公共卫生方面具有重要意义，但人们对这些寄生虫、它们的分布和它们的进化生物学知之甚少，这在很大程度上是由于缺乏训练有素的调查人员，他们熟悉识别野生种群感染所需的分子技术。此外，血孢子虫形成了一个模型组，用于研究疾病生物体的宿主特异性和通过宿主转换等机制出现新疾病。 该研究协调网络将通过一系列综合行动，提高对疟疾血液寄生虫及其带来的疾病风险的认识。RCN将建立和运营一个网站，提供信息、数据来源和寄生虫识别工具，并将有助于提高对这些单细胞血液寄生虫进行分类的能力，这些单细胞血液寄生虫主要是从受感染宿主血液中获得的DNA序列中发现的。该网络的一个主要特点是为特别是来自发展中国家的年轻调查人员开办为期一周的暑期学校，在疟疾寄生虫工作技术方面进行密集培训，从实地收集血样到获得DNA序列数据的分子实验室技术，以及使用分析工具解释其调查结果。该网络将对感兴趣的个人完全开放，并将作为促进对这些模式疾病生物体的研究和合作的论坛。

Haemosporida, malaria blood parasites, are diverse and widespread and are major parasites and pathogens of birds, reptiles, and mammals, including humans and domestic animals. Despite their ecological, evolutionary, and public health importance, these parasites, their distribution, and their evolutionary biology are poorly known, in large part owing to the dearth of trained investigators familiar with the molecular techniques required to identify infections in wild populations. Additionally, Haemosporida form a model group for study of host-specificity of disease organisms and the emergence of novel diseases through such mechanisms as host-switching. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will improve understanding of malaria blood parasites, and of the disease risks they entail, through an integrated set of actions. The RCN will establish and operate a website to provide information, sources of data, and tools for parasite identification, and will contribute to advancing ability to classify these single-celled blood parasites that are known primarily from DNA sequences obtained from the blood of infected hosts. A major feature of the RCN will be the establishment of one-week summer schools with intensive training for young investigators, particularly from developing countries, in the techniques of working with malaria parasites, from collecting blood samples in the field to the molecular lab techniques for obtaining DNA sequence data and using the analytical tools to interpret their findings. The Network will be completely open to interested individuals and will serve as a forum for promoting research and collaboration on these model disease organisms.