Molecular detection of Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. in bat ectoparasites in Brazil

Abstract

The family Streblidae comprises a monophyletic group of Hippoboscoidea, hematophagous dipterans that parasitize bats. Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. have been reported in bats sampled in Europe, Africa, Asia, North, Central and South America. However, there are few reports on the Bartonella and Rickettsia bacteria infecting Hippoboscoidea flies and mites. While Spinturnicidae mites are ectoparasites found only in bats, those belonging to the family Macronyssidae comprise mites that also parasitize other mammal species. This study investigates the occurrence and assesses the phylogenetic positioning of Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. found in Streblidae flies and Spinturnicidae and Macronyssidae mites collected from bats captured in Brazil. From May 2011 to April 2012 and September 2013 to December 2014, 400 Streblidae flies, 100 Macronyssidaes, and 100 Spinturnicidae mites were collected from bats captured in two sites in northeastern Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil. Forty (19.8%) out of 202 Streblidae flies were positive for Bartonella spp. in qPCR assays based on the nuoG gene. Among the flies positive for the bacterium, six (18%) were Paratrichobius longicrus, seven (29%) Strebla guajiro, two (40%) Aspidoptera phyllostomatis, five (11%) Aspidoptera falcata, one (10%) Trichobius anducei, one (25%) Megistopoda aranea, and 18 (32%) Trichobius joblingi, and collected from bats of the following species: Artibeus lituratus, Carollia perspicillata, Artibeus planirostris, Sturnira lilium, and Artibeus obscurus. Six sequences were obtained for Bartonella (nuoG [n = 2], gltA [n = 2], rpoB [n = 1], ribC = 1]). The phylogenetic analysis based on gltA (750pb) gene showed that the Bartonella sequences clustered with Bartonella genotypes detected in bats and ectoparasites previously sampled in Latin America, including Brazil. Only one sample (0.49%) of the species Trichobius joblingi collected from a specimen of Carollia perspicillata was positive for Rickettsia sp. in cPCR based on the gltA gene (401bp). This sequence was clustered with a ‘Candidatus Rickettsia andaenae" genotype detected in an Amblyomma parvum tick collected from a rodent in the southern region of Brazilian Pantanal. The sampled Macronyssidae and Spinturnicidae mites were negative for Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. This study demonstrated the first occurrence of Bartonella spp. and Rickettsia spp. DNA in Streblidae flies collected from bats in Brazil.

Occurrence of Bartonella genotypes in bats and associated Streblidae flies from Maranhão state, northeastern Brazil

“…through cox-1 sequencing, were found to be positive for Bartonella. Similar prevalence of Bartonella (19.8% [40/202]) had previously been reported in Streblidae flies sampled in northeastern Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Amaral et al, 2018). On the other hand, high prevalence of Bartonella spp.…”

“…So far, Bartonella DNA has been detected in bats sampled in Brazil with prevalence ranging from 5.28% (17/322) to 24.51% (51/208) (Ikeda et al, 2017;Ferreira et al, 2018;André et al, 2019). In addition, Bartonella DNA has been amplified from flies in the family Streblidae (19.8% [40/202]) collected from bats in Brazil (Amaral et al, 2018). Thus, the current study aimed to verify the occurrence and the phylogenetic positioning of Bartonella in bats and associated flies sampled in northeastern Brazil.…”

Genetic diversity ofBartonellaspp. in vampire bats from Brazil

“…Some Bartonella genotypes, detected in vampire bats in the present study, have shown to be related to bat fly‐associated bartonellae, as previously demonstrated (Becker, Bergner, et al, ). Hippoboscoidea flies have been incriminated as vectors of Bartonella among bats, based on phylogenetic relatedness (do Amaral et al, ; Becker, Bergner, et al, ). In fact, the high diversity of Bartonella strains in bat flies may reflect the frequent host switch driven by bat flies (Moskaluk et al, ).…”

“…Even though Bartonella spp. have been detected in bats (Ferreira et al, ; Ikeda et al, ) and bat flies (do Amaral, ) from Brazil, the genetic diversity of these bacteria in Chiroptera remains poorly assessed in the country. In order to elucidate the ecology of Bartonella infection in bats and decipher the role of vampire bats as reservoir hosts of Bartonella and their impact on human and domestic animal health, the present work investigated the genetic diversity of Bartonella spp.…”

Multi‐locus sequencing reveals a novel Bartonella in mammals from the Superorder Xenarthra

“…has been detected in several species of wild animals. In Brazil, they have been described in rodents (Sousa et al, 2018;Gonçalves et al, 2016), wild carnivores (Filoni et al, 2012;Fleischman et al, 2014;Fontalvo et al, 2017;Guimarães et al, 2009), bats (André et al, 2019;Ferreira et al, 2018;Ikeda et al, 2017) and associated ectoparasites, such as fleas (Sousa et al, 2018;Schott et al, 2019) and bat flies (Do Amaral et al, 2018). To the best of authors' knowledge, there are no reports on the occurrence of these agents in mammals from the superorder Xenarthra so far.…”