title: New insights into the evolution of the Trypanosoma cruzi clade provided by a new trypanosome species tightly linked to Neotropical Pteronotus bats and related to an Australian lineage of trypanosomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bat trypanosomes are implicated in the evolution of the T. cruzi clade, which harbours most African, European and American trypanosomes from bats and other trypanosomes from African, Australian and American terrestrial mammals, including T. cruzi and T. rangeli, the agents of the American human trypanosomiasis. The diversity of bat trypanosomes globally is still poorly understood, and the common ancestor, geographical origin, and evolution of species within the T. cruzi clade remain largely unresolved.
  
  
  METHODS
  Trypanosome sequences were obtained from cultured parasites and from museum archived liver/blood samples of bats captured from Guatemala (Central America) to the Brazilian Atlantic Coast. Phylogenies were inferred using Small Subunit (SSU) rRNA, glycosomal glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH), and Spliced Leader (SL) RNA genes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Here, we described Trypanosoma wauwau n. sp. from Pteronotus bats (Mormoopidae) placed in the T. cruzi clade, then supporting the bat-seeding hypothesis whereby the common ancestor of this clade likely was a bat trypanosome. T. wauwau was sister to the clade T. spp-Neobats from phyllostomid bats forming an assemblage of trypanosome species exclusively of Noctilionoidea Neotropical bats, which was sister to an Australian clade of trypanosomes from indigenous marsupials and rodents, which possibly evolved from a bat trypanosome. T. wauwau was found in 26.5% of the Pteronotus bats examined, and phylogeographical analysis evidenced the wide geographical range of this species. To date, this species was not detected in other bats, including those that were sympatric or shared shelters with Pteronotus. T. wauwau did not develop within mammalian cells, and was not infective to Balb/c mice or to triatomine vectors of T. cruzi and T. rangeli.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Trypanosoma wauwau n. sp. was linked to Pteronotus bats. The positioning of the clade T. wauwau/T.spp-Neobats as the most basal Neotropical bat trypanosomes and closely related to an Australian lineage of trypanosomes provides additional evidence that the T. cruzi clade trypanosomes likely evolved from bats, and were dispersed in bats within and between continents from ancient to unexpectedly recent times.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. lulima@usp.br.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. oneidae07@usp.br.
authors.forename: Oneida
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Espinosa-Álvarez
authors.affiliation: Division of Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. mpinto@amnh.org.|Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas y Crónicas, Escuela de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador. mpinto@amnh.org.
authors.forename: C Miguel
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Faculdades Integradas Padre Albino (FIPA) e Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde de Barretos (FACISB), Barretos, SP, Brazil. manzelio@facisb.edu.br.
authors.forename: Manzelio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cavazzana
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. anacarolinapavan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ana Carolina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Pavan
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Parasitología Tropical, Universidad del Tolima, Ibagué, Colombia. jcarranza@ut.edu.co.
authors.forename: Julio C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Carranza
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada. burtonl@rom.on.ca.
authors.forename: Burton K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. camp@usp.br.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Campaner
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. ctakata@usp.br.
authors.forename: Carmen S A
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Takata
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. erney@usp.br.
authors.forename: Erney P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.affiliation: Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. p.b.hamilton@exeter.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Patrick B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Parasitologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, Av. Lineu Prestes, 1374, 05508-000, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. mmgteix@icb.usp.br.
authors.forename: Marta M G
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Teixeira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D001938:Brazil; D002489:Central America; D002685:Chiroptera; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D024581:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (Phosphorylating) / Q000235:genetics; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D020038:RNA, Spliced Leader; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D020038:RNA, Spliced Leader; D024581:Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (Phosphorylating)