Lilley Thomas M, Veikkolainen Ville, Pulliainen Arto T
1 Department of Biology, University of Turku , Turku, Finland .
2 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2015 Nov;15(11):706-8. doi: 10.1089/vbz.2015.1783. Epub 2015 Oct 26.
Although bats have been implicated as reservoir hosts for a number of zoonotic and life-threatening viruses, the bat bacterial flora and its zoonotic threat remain elusive. However, members of the vector-borne bacterial genera Bartonella causing various human as well as animal diseases have recently been isolated or detected from bats and their ectoparasites. In this study, we sampled 124 insectivorous microbats (Daubenton's bat, Myotis daubentonii) for peripheral blood in southwestern Finland in 2010. A Bartonella-specific PCR targeting rpoB (RNA polymerase β-subunit) was positive with blood samples from 46 bats (prevalence 37%). Scaled mass indexes of the infected and noninfected bats did not differ (p = 0.057). One rpoB sequence was identical with the rpoB sequence of B. naantaliensis strain 2574/1, previously isolated from bats in Finland. The rest of the sequences were highly similar to each other with nucleotide identity scores of 96% or higher. Nucleotide identity scores to the previously described type strain sequences of Bartonella or other database entries were no higher than 87%. Sequence analyses of another gene, gltA (citrate synthase), gave no higher than 90% nucleotide identity scores. On the basis of the conventional 95% sequence similarity cutoff in bacterial species delineation, a novel species of Bartonella was detected. We propose a species name Candidatus B. hemsundetiensis. Phylogenetic analyses based on rpoB and gltA sequences indicate that Candidatus B. hemsundetiensis clusters in a deep-branching position close to the ancestral species B. tamiae and B. bacilliformis. Our study reinforces the importance of bats as reservoirs of Bartonella.
尽管蝙蝠被认为是多种人畜共患病和危及生命的病毒的宿主，但蝙蝠的细菌菌群及其人畜共患病威胁仍不明确。然而，最近已从蝙蝠及其体外寄生虫中分离或检测到引起各种人类和动物疾病的媒介传播细菌属巴尔通体的成员。在本研究中，我们于2010年在芬兰西南部采集了124只食虫小蝙蝠（道氏鼠耳蝠，Myotis daubentonii）的外周血。针对rpoB（RNA聚合酶β亚基）的巴尔通体特异性PCR在46只蝙蝠的血样中呈阳性（患病率37%）。感染和未感染蝙蝠的体重指数没有差异（p = 0.057）。一个rpoB序列与之前从芬兰蝙蝠中分离出的纳塔利巴尔通体菌株2574/1的rpoB序列相同。其余序列彼此高度相似，核苷酸同一性得分在96%或更高。与之前描述的巴尔通体模式菌株序列或其他数据库条目的核苷酸同一性得分不高于87%。另一个基因gltA（柠檬酸合酶）的序列分析给出的核苷酸同一性得分不高于90%。根据细菌物种划分中传统的95%序列相似性阈值，检测到一种新的巴尔通体物种。我们提议将其命名为暂定种赫姆松德蒂巴尔通体。基于rpoB和gltA序列的系统发育分析表明，暂定种赫姆松德蒂巴尔通体聚集在一个靠近祖先物种塔米亚巴尔通体和杆状巴尔通体的深分支位置。我们的研究强化了蝙蝠作为巴尔通体宿主的重要性。
