Muñoz-Leal Sebastián, Faccini-Martínez Álvaro A, Pérez-Torres Jairo, Chala-Quintero Sandra M, Herrera-Sepúlveda Maria T, Cuervo Claudia, Labruna Marcelo B
Department of Pathology and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Concepción, Chillán, Chile.
Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechny, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2021 Feb;68(1):12-18. doi: 10.1111/zph.12789. Epub 2020 Nov 23.
Bats have been implicated as reservoirs of relapsing fever group spirochaetes since the beginning of the last century. Recently, bat-associated spirochaetes have been reported as human pathogens. In 1968, a spirochaete was detected in blood of the bat Natalus tumidirostris captured inside the Macaregua cave, Colombia. Data on this microorganism were never published again. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of Borrelia DNA in blood from bats of Macaregua cave. We performed molecular analyses using a genus-specific real-time PCR targeting the 16S rRNA to detect DNA of Borrelia in blood samples from 46 bats captured in the Macaregua cave. Positive samples were submitted to a battery of PCRs aiming to amply Borrelia 16S rRNA, flaB, glpQ, p66, ospC, clpA, clpX, nifS, pepX, pyrG, recG, rplB and uvrA genes. Seventeen samples were positive for Borrelia after real-time PCR. With the exception of flaB gene, attempts to amplify further loci were unsuccessful. Nucleotide and amino acid divergences of four flaB haplotypes characterized from blood of Carollia perspicillata showed Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl) as the most closely related group. A phylogenetic tree including 74 sequences of the genus confirmed this trend, since Borrelia genotypes detected in bats from Macaregua formed a monophyletic group basally positioned to Bbsl. Our results suggest that Borrelia genotypes characterized from bats roosting in the Macaregua cave might constitute a new taxon within the genus. This is the first molecular characterization of a Borrelia sp. in Colombia.
自上世纪初以来，蝙蝠就被认为是回归热组螺旋体的宿主。最近，与蝙蝠相关的螺旋体被报道为人类病原体。1968年，在哥伦比亚马卡雷瓜洞穴内捕获的膨鼻墓蝠血液中检测到一种螺旋体。关于这种微生物的数据再也没有发表过。本研究的目的是评估马卡雷瓜洞穴蝙蝠血液中伯氏疏螺旋体DNA的存在情况。我们使用针对16S rRNA的属特异性实时PCR进行分子分析，以检测在马卡雷瓜洞穴捕获的46只蝙蝠血液样本中的伯氏疏螺旋体DNA。阳性样本进行了一系列PCR，旨在扩增伯氏疏螺旋体的16S rRNA、flaB、glpQ、p66、ospC、clpA、clpX、nifS、pepX、pyrG、recG、rplB和uvrA基因。实时PCR后，17个样本的伯氏疏螺旋体呈阳性。除flaB基因外，进一步扩增其他基因座的尝试均未成功。从食果蝠血液中鉴定出的四种flaB单倍型的核苷酸和氨基酸差异表明，狭义伯氏疏螺旋体（Bbsl）是最密切相关的群体。一个包含该属74个序列的系统发育树证实了这一趋势，因为在马卡雷瓜蝙蝠中检测到的伯氏疏螺旋体基因型形成了一个单系群，位于Bbsl的基部。我们的结果表明，在马卡雷瓜洞穴栖息的蝙蝠中鉴定出的伯氏疏螺旋体基因型可能构成该属内的一个新分类单元。这是哥伦比亚首次对伯氏疏螺旋体进行分子鉴定。
