ATAD1 and infection: Effective management of penguins exposed to avian malaria is hampered by the lack of understanding and lack of characterization of the immune response of the African penguin during an active infection with avian Plasmodium. In the present study, we targeted the use of a merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1) of P. relictum SGS1 isolate (a potentially pathogenic species in penguins) to facilitate the specific detection and relative quantification of antibodies in P. relictum isolate SGS1-infected birds.