title: 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.
abstract: 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 (>500 bp) 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mammalogy and Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA. mpinto@amnh.org
authors.forename: C Miguel
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Elisabeth K V
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Kalko
authors.forename: Iain
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Cottontail
authors.forename: Nele
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wellinghausen
authors.forename: Veronika M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Cottontail
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary; D005819:Genetic Markers; D010177:Panama Canal Zone; D010802:Phylogeny; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics*; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D005819:Genetic Markers; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S