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Genetic Diversity of Bartonella spp. in Wild Mammals and Ectoparasites in Brazilian Pantanal

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Abstract

The present work aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of Bartonella in mammals and ectoparasites in Pantanal wetland, Brazil. For this purpose, 31 Nasua nasua, 78 Cerdocyon thous, 7 Leopardus pardalis, 110 wild rodents, 30 marsupials, and 42 dogs were sampled. DNA samples were submitted to a quantitative real-time PCR assay (qPCR). Positive samples in qPCR were submitted to conventional PCR assays targeting other five protein-coding genes. Thirty-five wild rodents and three Polygenis (P.) bohlsi bohlsi flea pools showed positive results in qPCR for Bartonella spp. Thirty-seven out of 38 positive samples in qPCR were also positive in cPCR assays based on ftsZ gene, nine in nuoG-cPCR, and six in gltA-cPCR. Concatenated phylogenetic analyses showed that two main genotypes circulate in rodents and ectoparasites in the studied region. While one of them was closely related to Bartonella spp. previously detected in Cricetidae rodents from North America and Brazil, the other one was related to Bartonella alsatica, Bartonella pachyuromydis, Bartonella birtlesii, Bartonella acomydis, Bartonella silvatica, and Bartonella callosciuri. These results showed that at least two Bartonella genotypes circulate among wild rodents. Additionally, the present study suggests that Polygenis (P.) bohlsi bohlsi fleas could act as possible Bartonella vectors among rodents in Pantanal wetland, Brazil.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the financial support to M.R. André (Process numbers #2015/14896-1 and #473575/2014-0, respectively) and for Doctorate Scholarship to K. C. M Sousa (Process #2013/13186-5) and the Scientific Initiation Fellowship to R. B. Amaral (Process # 2015/03262-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil

    Keyla Carstens Marques de Sousa, Renan Bressianini do Amaral, Darci Moraes Barros-Battesti, Rosangela Zacarias Machado & Marcos Rogério André

  2. Universidade Católica Dom Bosco, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil

    Heitor Miraglia Herrera, Filipe Martins Santos & Gabriel Carvalho Macedo

  3. Laboratório de Ecologia Animal, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Rio Tinto, PB, Brazil

    Pedro Cordeiro Estrela de Andrade Pinto

  4. Laboratório de Imunoparasitologia, Departamento de Patologia Veterinária, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Campus de Jaboticabal, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane, s/n, Zona Rural, CEP: 14884-900, Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil

    Marcos Rogério André

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Correspondence to Marcos Rogério André.

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All animal captures were in accordance with the licenses obtained from the Brazilian Government Institute for Wildlife and Natural Resources Care (IBAMA) (license numbers 38145 and 38787-2) and was endorsed by the Ethics Committee of FCAV/UNESP University (Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho”, Câmpus Jaboticabal) no. 006772/13.

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de Sousa, K.C.M., do Amaral, R.B., Herrera, H.M. et al. Genetic Diversity of Bartonella spp. in Wild Mammals and Ectoparasites in Brazilian Pantanal. Microb Ecol 76, 544–554 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1138-0

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