title: New Rickettsia species in soft ticks Ornithodoros hasei collected from bats in French Guiana.
abstract: In French Guiana, located on the northeastern coast of South America, bats of different species are very numerous. The infection of bats and their ticks with zoonotic bacteria, especially Rickettsia species, is so far unknown. In order to improve knowledge of these zoonotic pathogens in this French overseas department, the presence and diversity of tick-borne bacteria was investigated with molecular tools in bat ticks. In the beginning of 2013, 32 bats were caught in Saint-Jean-du-Maroni, an area close to the coast of French Guiana, and the ticks of these animals were collected. A total of 354 larvae of Argasidae soft ticks (Ornithodoros hasei) from 12 bats (Noctilio albiventris) were collected and 107 of them were analysed. DNA was extracted from the samples and quantitative real-time PCR was carried out to detect Rickettsia spp., Bartonella spp., Borrelia spp. and Coxiella burnetii. All tested samples were negative for Bartonella spp., Borrelia spp. and Coxiella burnetii. Rickettsia DNA was detected in 31 (28.9%) ticks. An almost entire (1118 base pairs long) sequence of the gltA gene was obtained after the amplification of some positive samples on conventional PCR and sequencing. A Bayesian tree was constructed using concatenated rrs, gltA, ompA, ompB, and gene D sequences. The study of characteristic sequences shows that this Rickettsia species is very close (98.3-99.8%) genetically to R. peacockii. Nevertheless, the comparative analysis of sequences obtained from gltA, ompA, ompB, rrs and gene D fragments demonstrated that this Rickettsia is different from the other members of the spotted fever group. The sequences of this new species were deposited in GenBank as Candidatus Rickettsia wissemanii. This is the first report showing the presence of nucleic acid of Rickettsia in Ornithodoros hasei ticks from South American bats.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Djamel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tahir
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France; Service de pneumologie, Hôpital Saint Joseph, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Socolovschi
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France; Animal Epidemiology Working Group of the Military Health Service, Toulon, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Lou
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Marié
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Gautier
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ganay
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Berenger
authors.affiliation: Chiroptérologue, Solliès-Pont, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bompar
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Hospitalier Universitaire de Parasitologie et Mycologie, Centre Hospitalier A. Rosemon, Cayenne, France.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Blanchet
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Hospitalier Universitaire de Parasitologie et Mycologie, Centre Hospitalier A. Rosemon, Cayenne, France.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cheuret
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mediannikov
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France; Animal Epidemiology Working Group of the Military Health Service, Toulon, France. Electronic address: bernard.davoust@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davoust
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Emerging Infectious and Tropical Diseases (URMITE) UMR CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1095, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parola
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera; D005616:French Guiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D026861:Ornithodoros / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*
keywords: Bat; Candidatus Rickettsia wissemanii; French Guiana; Ornithodoros hasei; Rickettsia spp.; Tick