Collaborative Research: The Unique Skinks of New Guinea: Diversity, Systematics, and Malaria Parasites

在新几内亚岛上，一些特殊的蜥蜴有绿色的血液，这是由于高水平的胆绿素，一种胆色素，它使红细胞的颜色变绿。 在人类和其他脊椎动物中，胆绿素（和胆红素）是引起黄疸的有毒废物，并与新生儿的病理学和诸如吉尔伯特综合征和克里格勒-纳贾尔综合征的疾病有关。 由于这些蜥蜴体内的胆绿素浓度会导致其他动物的黄疸和死亡，因此它们高胆色素水平的适应意义尚不清楚。 一种假设是，这是一种抗寄生虫的策略。 蜥蜴是疟疾寄生虫的宿主，但PI收集的初步数据显示，绿血蜥蜴的疟疾感染水平呈下降趋势。该项目的目标是在巴布亚新几内亚的九个地点进行实地考察，并利用现有的大量组织和血液样本，更好地估计石龙子及其疟疾寄生虫的多样性和关系，以便更有说服力地检验这一假设。因此，该项目将为系统学，生物多样性和寄生虫学做出许多新的贡献。该项目的更广泛影响将包括编制初中/高中课程材料、培训本科生和研究生以及各种国际伙伴关系。由于没有发现其他动物可以在血液中存活这种水平的胆绿素，这项研究最终可能提供一些线索，以更好地了解黄疸，并在这样做有助于生物医学和经济发展。

On the island of New Guinea, some extraordinary lizards have green blood, due to high levels of biliverdin, a bile pigment, which overwhelms the color of their red blood cells. In humans and other vertebrates, biliverdin (and bilirubin) are toxic waste products that cause jaundice and are associated with pathology in newborns and diseases such as Gilbert's and Crigler-Najjar syndromes. As the concentration of biliverdin in these lizards would cause jaundice and death in other animals, the adaptive significance of their high bile pigment levels is unknown. One hypothesis is that it is an anti-parasitic strategy. Lizards are hosts to malaria parasites but preliminary data collected by the PI's show a trend towards reduced levels of malaria infection in green-blooded lizards. The goals of this project are to conduct fieldwork at nine locales in Papua New Guinea and to use a large number of tissue and blood samples already in hand to obtain better estimates of the diversity and relationships of skinks and their malaria parasites, in order to more conclusively test this hypothesis. Thus, this project will make numerous novel contributions to systematics, biodiversity, and parasitology. The broader impacts of this project will include development of middle/high school curriculum materials, training of undergraduate and graduate students, and various international partnerships. As no other animals have ever been found that can survive this level of biliverdin in their blood, the study may ultimately provide some clues to better understand jaundice and in doing so contribute to biomedicine and economic development.