TcBat a bat-exclusive lineage of Trypanosoma cruzi in the Panama Canal Zone, with comments on its classification and the use of the 18S rRNA gene for lineage identification

• Published in: Infection, genetics and evolution Vol. 12; no. 6; pp. 1328 - 1332
• Main Authors: Pinto, C. Miguel, Kalko, Elisabeth K.V., Cottontail, Iain, Wellinghausen, Nele, Cottontail, Veronika M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 01-08-2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; Artibeus; Artibeus jamaicensis; Bat; Biological and medical sciences; Chagas disease; Chagas Disease - blood; Chagas Disease - parasitology; Chagas Disease - veterinary; Chiroptera; Chiroptera - blood; Chiroptera - parasitology; Cluster Analysis; Disease Reservoirs - parasitology; Disease Reservoirs - veterinary; DNA, Protozoan - blood; Epidemiology. Vaccinations; General aspects; genes; Genetic Markers; genotype; Human protozoal diseases; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Missing data; monophyly; Panama Canal Zone; Parasitic diseases; Phylogeny; Protozoal diseases; Reservoir host; ribosomal RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - genetics; Trypanosoma cruzi; Trypanosoma cruzi - classification; Trypanosoma cruzi - genetics; Trypanosomiasis; Panama Canal Zone; Panama; Central America; America; Chagas disease; Missing data; Artibeus jamaicensis; Reservoir host; Bat; Chiroptera; Kinetoplastida; Protozoa; Protozoal disease; Ribosomal DNA; Reservoir; Identification; Parasitosis; Trypanosoma cruzi; Infection; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Classification; Molecular epidemiology; Trypanosomiasis
• ISSN: 1567-1348; 1567-7257
• DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2012.04.013

► Report for first time Tcbat in Central America. ► Infections with TcBat were common (11.6%) in Artibeus jamaicensis bats. ► Missing data does not negatively affect phylogenetic inference of Trypanosoma cruzi lineages. ► 18S rRNA is a useful marker to indentify non-hybrid lineages of T. cruzi. ► TcBat is a distinctive lineage that should be considered as an additional DTU.
We report TcBat, a recently described genetic lineage of Trypanosoma cruzi, in fruit-eating bats Artibeus from Panama. Infections were common (11.6% prevalence), but no other T. cruzi cruzi genotypes were detected. Phylogenetic analyses show an unambiguous association with Brazilian TcBat, but raise questions about the phylogenetic placement of this genotype using the 18S rRNA gene alone. However, analyses with three concatenated genes (18S rRNA, cytb, and H2B) moderately support TcBat as sister to the discrete typing unit (DTU) TcI. We demonstrate that short fragments (>500bp) of the 18S rRNA gene are useful for identification of DTUs of T. cruzi, and provide reliable phylogenetic signal as long as they are analyzed within a matrix with reference taxa containing additional informative genes. TcBat forms a very distinctive monophyletic group that may be recognized as an additional DTU within T. cruzi cruzi.