Purifying selection leads to low protein diversity of the mitochondrial cyt b gene in avian malaria parasites

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial respiration plays a central role in the survival of many eukaryotes, including apicomplexan parasites. A 479-bp fragment from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene is widely used as a barcode to identify genetic lineages of avian malaria parasites Plasmodium and related haemosporidians. Here we looked for evidence of selection in the avian Plasmodium cyt b gene, using tests of selection and protein structure modeling. We also tested for the association between cyt b polymorphism and the host specificity of these parasites. RESULTS: Based on 1,089 lineages retrieved from the Malavi database, we found that the frequency of the most conserved amino acids in most sites was more than 90%, indicating that the protein diversity of the avian Plasmodium cyt b barcode was low. The exceptions were four amino acid sites that were highly polymorphic, though the substitutions had only slight functional impacts on the encoded proteins. The selection analyses revealed that avian Plasmodium cyt b was under strong purifying selection, and no positively selected sites were detected. Besides, lineages with a wide host range tend to share cyt b protein haplotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our research indicates that purifying selection is the dominant force in the evolution of the avian Plasmodium cyt b lineages and leads to its low diversity at the protein level. Host specificity may also play a role in shaping the low mitochondrial diversity in the evolution of avian malaria parasites. Our results highlight the importance of considering selection pressure on the cyt b barcode region and lay a foundation for further understanding the evolutionary pattern of mitochondrial genes in avian malaria. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12862-023-02155-5.