title: The Bacteriome of Bat Flies (Nycteribiidae) from the Malagasy Region: a Community Shaped by Host Ecology, Bacterial Transmission Mode, and Host-Vector Specificity.
abstract: The Nycteribiidae are obligate blood-sucking Diptera (Hippoboscoidea) flies that parasitize bats. Depending on species, these wingless flies exhibit either high specialism or generalism toward their hosts, which may in turn have important consequences in terms of their associated microbial community structure. Bats have been hypothesized to be reservoirs of numerous infectious agents, some of which have recently emerged in human populations. Thus, bat flies may be important in the epidemiology and transmission of some of these bat-borne infectious diseases, acting either directly as arthropod vectors or indirectly by shaping pathogen communities among bat populations. In addition, bat flies commonly have associations with heritable bacterial endosymbionts that inhabit insect cells and depend on maternal transmission through egg cytoplasm to ensure their transmission. Some of these heritable bacteria are likely obligate mutualists required to support bat fly development, but others are facultative symbionts with unknown effects. Here, we present bacterial community profiles that were obtained from seven bat fly species, representing five genera, parasitizing bats from the Malagasy region. The observed bacterial diversity includes Rickettsia, Wolbachia, and several Arsenophonus-like organisms, as well as other members of the Enterobacteriales and a widespread association of Bartonella bacteria from bat flies of all five genera. Using the well-described host specificity of these flies and data on community structure from selected bacterial taxa with either vertical or horizontal transmission, we show that host/vector specificity and transmission mode are important drivers of bacterial community structure.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), GIP CYROI, Ste Clotilde, La Réunion, France Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT)," INSERM U 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Ste Clotilde, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France dwilkin799@gmail.com.
authors.forename: David A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9986-6212
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire MIVEGEC (Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Génétique, Evolution et Contrôle), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR5290), Université de Montpellier, Institut pour la Recherche et le Développement (UR224), Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Duron
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), GIP CYROI, Ste Clotilde, La Réunion, France Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT)," INSERM U 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Ste Clotilde, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Colette
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cordonin
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), GIP CYROI, Ste Clotilde, La Réunion, France Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT)," INSERM U 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Ste Clotilde, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Yann
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gomard
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), GIP CYROI, Ste Clotilde, La Réunion, France Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT)," INSERM U 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Ste Clotilde, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA Association Vahatra, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
authors.forename: Beza
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ramasindrazana
authors.affiliation: Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT)," INSERM U 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Ste Clotilde, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France Université de Lyon, UMR CNRS 5557, USC INRA 1364, VetAgro Sup, Ecologie Microbienne, FR41 BioEnvironment and Health, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mavingui
authors.affiliation: The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA Association Vahatra, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les Maladies Émergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), GIP CYROI, Ste Clotilde, La Réunion, France Université de La Réunion, Unité Mixte de Recherche "Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical (UMR PIMIT)," INSERM U 1187, CNRS 9192, IRD 249, Plateforme de Recherche CYROI, Ste Clotilde, Saint-Denis, La Réunion, France.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tortosa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000469:parasitology; D004175:Diptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D008270:Madagascar; D064307:Microbiota