Laboratório de Imunoparasitologia, Departamento de Patologia, Reprodução e Saúde Única, Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias - Universidade Estadual "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" (FCAV/UNESP), Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil.
Laboratório de Biologia Parasitária, Programa de Pós Graduação em Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Dom Bosco, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Parasitol Res. 2021 Jan;120(1):301-310. doi: 10.1007/s00436-020-06985-w. Epub 2020 Nov 26.
Piroplasmida is an order of the phylum Apicomplexa that comprises the Babesia, Cytauxzoon, and Theileria genera. These hemoparasites infect vertebrate blood cells and may cause serious diseases in animals and humans. Even though previous studies have shown that bats are infected by different species of piroplasmids, the occurrence and diversity of these hemoparasites have not been investigated in this group of mammals in Brazil. Therefore, the present work aimed to investigate the occurrence and assess the phylogenetic placement of piroplasmids infecting bats sampled in a peri-urban area from Central-Western Brazil. Seventeen (12.6%) out of 135 animals were positive by nested PCR assay for the detection of Babesia/Theileria targeting the 18S rRNA gene. Eleven sequences of the 17 positive samples could be analyzed and showed an identity of 91.8-100% with Theileria bicornis, Babesia vogeli, a Babesia sp. identified in a small rodent (Thrichomys pachyurus) from the Brazilian Pantanal and a Babesia sp. identified in a dog from Thailand as assessed by nBLAST. A phylogenetic tree was constructed from an alignment of 1399 bp length using analyzed and known piroplasmid 18S rRNA sequences. In this tree, piroplasmid 18S rRNA sequences detected in three specimens of Phyllostomus discolor (Piroplasmid n. sp., P. discolor) were placed as a sister taxon to Theileria sensu stricto (Clade V) and Babesia sensu stricto (Clade VI). An additional phylogenetic tree was generated from a shorter alignment of 524 bp length including analyzed piroplasmid 18S rRNA sequences of bat species Artibeus planirostris and A. lituratus (Piroplasmid sp., Artibeus spp.). The two 18S rRNA sequences detected in Artibeus spp. (Piroplasmid n. sp., Artibeus spp.) were placed within Babesia sensu stricto (Clade VI) into a strongly supported clade (bootstrap: 100) that included Babesia vogeli. The two 18S rRNA sequences of Piroplasmid sp., Artibeus spp. showed a single and a two-nucleotide differences, respectively, with respect to B. vogeli in a 709 pb length alignment. For the first time, the present study shows the occurrence of putative new piroplasmid species in non-hematophagous bats from Brazil.
梨形虫目是顶复门的一个目，包括巴贝西虫属、细胞球虫属和泰勒虫属。这些血液寄生虫感染脊椎动物的血细胞，可能在动物和人类中引起严重疾病。尽管先前的研究表明蝙蝠感染了不同种类的梨形虫，但在巴西的这类哺乳动物中，尚未对这些血液寄生虫的发生和多样性进行调查。因此，本研究旨在调查中央-西部巴西城郊地区采样蝙蝠感染梨形虫的发生情况，并评估其系统发育地位。通过针对 18S rRNA 基因的巢式 PCR 检测，135 只动物中有 17 只（12.6%）呈阳性。对 17 个阳性样本中的 11 个序列进行了分析，其与泰勒虫属的双角巴贝斯虫、卵形巴贝斯虫、在巴西潘塔纳尔的一种小型啮齿动物（白腹毛足鼠）中鉴定的巴贝斯虫属和在泰国的狗中鉴定的巴贝斯虫属的同源性为 91.8-100%，通过 nBLAST 评估。从分析和已知梨形虫 18S rRNA 序列的 1399 bp 长的对齐构建了一个系统发育树。在该树中，在三株 Phyllostomus discolor 标本中检测到的梨形虫 18S rRNA 序列被放置在泰勒虫属（V 群）和巴贝斯虫属（VI 群）的姐妹分类群中。从包括 Artibeus planirostris 和 A. lituratus 的蝙蝠物种的分析梨形虫 18S rRNA 序列的更短对齐（524 bp）生成了另一个系统发育树。在 Artibeus spp. 中检测到的两个 18S rRNA 序列（巴贝斯虫属 n. sp.，Artibeus spp.）被放置在巴贝斯虫属（VI 群）内，形成一个支持度很强的分支（自举值：100），其中包括卵形巴贝斯虫。在长度为 709 pb 的比对中，与卵形巴贝斯虫相比，Piroplasmid sp.，Artibeus spp. 的两个 18S rRNA 序列分别显示出一个和两个核苷酸差异。本研究首次表明，在巴西的非吸血蝙蝠中存在新的梨形虫种。
