Gutiérrez Ricardo, Morick Danny, Cohen Carmit, Hawlena Hadas, Harrus Shimon
Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
ISME J. 2014 Aug;8(8):1598-608. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2014.22. Epub 2014 Feb 27.
The composition of Bartonella infection was explored in wild Gerbillus andersoni rodents and their Synosternus cleopatrae fleas. Rodent blood samples and fleas were collected in two periods (two different seasons; 4 months apart) from juveniles and adult hosts, and their bartonellae lineages were identified by a 454-pyrosequencing analysis targeting a specific Bartonella citrate synthase gene (gltA) fragment. The rate of Bartonella spp. co-infection was estimated and the assemblage and distribution of bartonellae lineages across the samples with respect to ecological and phylogenetic distance similarities were analyzed. Moreover, environmental factors that could explain potential differences between samples were investigated. Out of the 91 bartonellae-positive samples, 89% were found to be co-infected with more than two phylogenetically distant Bartonella genotypes and additional closely related (but distinguishable) variants. These bartonellae lineages were distributed in a non-random manner, and a negative interaction between lineages was discovered. Interestingly, the overall composition of those infections greatly varied among samples. This variability was partially explained by factors, such as type of sample (blood versus fleas), flea sex and period of collection. This investigation sheds light on the patterns of Bartonella infection and the organization of Bartonella lineages in fleas and rodents in nature.
在野生长耳跳鼠及其印鼠客蚤中探究了巴尔通体感染的构成情况。在两个时期（两个不同季节，相隔4个月）从幼年和成年宿主身上采集啮齿动物血液样本和跳蚤，并通过针对特定巴尔通体柠檬酸合酶基因（gltA）片段的454焦磷酸测序分析来鉴定它们的巴尔通体谱系。估计了巴尔通体属的共感染率，并分析了样本中巴尔通体谱系在生态和系统发育距离相似性方面的组合和分布情况。此外，还研究了可能解释样本间潜在差异的环境因素。在91个巴尔通体阳性样本中，发现89%的样本感染了两种以上系统发育距离较远的巴尔通体基因型以及其他密切相关（但可区分）的变体。这些巴尔通体谱系以非随机方式分布，并且发现谱系之间存在负相互作用。有趣的是，这些感染的总体构成在样本间差异很大。这种变异性部分由样本类型（血液与跳蚤）、跳蚤性别和采集时期等因素解释。这项研究揭示了自然界中跳蚤和啮齿动物体内巴尔通体感染的模式以及巴尔通体谱系的组织情况。
