Trypanosoma rangeli is phylogenetically closer to Old World trypanosomes than to Trypanosoma cruzi

Abstract

Trypanosoma rangeli and Trypanosoma cruzi are generalist trypanosomes sharing a wide range of mammalian hosts; they are transmitted by triatomine bugs, and are the only trypanosomes infecting humans in the Neotropics. Their origins, phylogenetic relationships, and emergence as human parasites have long been subjects of interest. In the present study, taxon-rich analyses (20 trypanosome species from bats and terrestrial mammals) using ssrRNA, glycosomal glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH), heat shock protein-70 (HSP70) and Spliced Leader RNA sequences, and multilocus phylogenetic analyses using 11 single copy genes from 15 selected trypanosomes, provide increased resolution of relationships between species and clades, strongly supporting two main sister lineages: lineage Schizotrypanum, comprising T. cruzi and bat-restricted trypanosomes, and Tra[Tve-Tco] formed by T. rangeli, Trypanosoma vespertilionis and Trypanosoma conorhini clades. Tve comprises European T. vespertilionis and African T. vespertilionis-like of bats and bat cimicids characterised in the present study and Trypanosoma sp. Hoch reported in monkeys and herein detected in bats. Tco included the triatomine-transmitted tropicopolitan T. conorhini from rats and the African NanDoum1 trypanosome of civet (carnivore). Consistent with their very close relationships, Tra[Tve-Tco] species shared highly similar Spliced Leader RNA structures that were highly divergent from those of Schizotrypanum. In a plausible evolutionary scenario, a bat trypanosome transmitted by cimicids gave origin to the deeply rooted Tra[Tve-Tco] and Schizotrypanum lineages, and bat trypanosomes of diverse genetic backgrounds jumped to new hosts. A long and independent evolutionary history of T. rangeli more related to Old World trypanosomes from bats, rats, monkeys and civets than to Schizotrypanum spp., and the adaptation of these distantly related trypanosomes to different niches of shared mammals and vectors, is consistent with the marked differences in transmission routes, life-cycles and host-parasite interactions, resulting in T. cruzi (but not T. rangeli) being pathogenic to humans.

Genetic diversity ofBartonellaspp. in vampire bats from Brazil

“…The bio‐geographical pattern of Bartonella species/genotypes resembles the pattern found for trypanosomes infecting D. rotundus . Host switching mediated by bat ectoparasites (triatomines, bat bugs, flies, ticks and fleas) likely shaped the wide host range of trypanosomes (Espinosa‐Álvarez et al, ). Therefore, future studies are needed in order to investigate the circulation of D. rotundus ‐associated bartonellae in other bat species mediated by bat ectoparasites.…”

New insights into Trypanosoma cruzi evolution and genotyping based on system-wide protein expression profiles (PhyloQuant)

“…Two representative strains for the six T. cruzi DTUs (TcI-TcVI), one from Tcbat (TcVII), T. cruzi marinkellei, Trypanosoma dionisii, Trypanosoma erneyi and Trypanosoma rangeli (Table 1) were comparatively analyzed in this study. These parasites have been previously characterized using genetic markers (53,54). The epimastigotes were grown in liver infusion tryptose (LIT) medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS) at 28 °C.…”

“…Three concatenated genes; glycosomal glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH), v7v8 variable region of the SSU rRNA and HSP70 were selected to construct a phylogenetic reference tree. These gene sequences have been routinely used to discriminate and infer phylogenetic relationships among trypanosomes of Schizotrypanum and T. rangeli (53). Orthologs of the three genes were obtained from the available genomes T. cruzi NR Cl1 (TCC1561) and T. cruzi Cl14 (TCC476) were amplified by PCR as previously described (53,62,63), and subsequently sequenced.…”

“…These gene sequences have been routinely used to discriminate and infer phylogenetic relationships among trypanosomes of Schizotrypanum and T. rangeli (53). Orthologs of the three genes were obtained from the available genomes T. cruzi NR Cl1 (TCC1561) and T. cruzi Cl14 (TCC476) were amplified by PCR as previously described (53,62,63), and subsequently sequenced. All gene sequences were aligned using CLUSTAL v2.1 within the Seaview v.4.5.4 graphical tool software (64).…”

“…The generalist and human-infective T. rangeli sp. also belonging to the T. cruzi clade was included as an outgroup of Schizotrypanum (53). The term "phyloquant" is herein introduced to encompass phyloproteomics approaches with other identified and unidentified biomolecular features obtained by quantitative proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, glycoproteomics and other omics techniques.…”