Molecular Detection of Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis in North American Bats.
Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis was detected in 2010 from an aortic valve sample of a patient with endocarditis from Iowa, the United States of America. The environmental source of the potentially new endocarditis-causing Bartonella remained elusive. We set out to study the prevalence and diversity of bat-associated Bartonella in North America. During 2015, mist nets and harp traps were used to capture 92 bats belonging to two species: little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus Le Conte 1831, n = 73) and the gray myotis (M. grisescens A.H. Howell 1909, n = 19) in Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. DNA preparations of peripheral blood samples from bats were subjected to a three-marker (gltA, rpoB, and intergenic spacer region [ISR]) multilocus sequence analysis. Sequence-verified gltA-positive PCR amplicons were obtained from nine samples. Three sequences were 99.7-100% identical with the gltA sequence of the Iowa endocarditis patient strain. Analysis of rpoB and ISR sequences demonstrated that one little brown myotis sample from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan contained Bartonella DNA, with 100% sequence identity with the Iowa endocarditis patient strain DNA. It appears possible that bats are a reservoir of Candidatus Bartonella mayotimonensis in North America.
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.|2 Zoological Museum, Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku, Turku, Finland .
Thomas M
TM
Lilley
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Cali A
CA
Wilson
3 Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee , Knoxville, Tennessee.
Riley F
RF
Bernard
3 Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, University of Tennessee , Knoxville, Tennessee.
Emma V
EV
Willcox
4 Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland .
Eero J
EJ
Vesterinen
5 Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology (CABE), Memorial University of Newfoundland , St. Johns, Canada .
Quinn M R
QM
Webber
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Laura
L
Kurpiers
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Jenni M
JM
Prokkola
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Imran
I
Ejotre
6 Department of Biology, Eastern Michigan University , Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Allen
A
Kurta
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Kenneth A
KA
Field
1 Biology Department, Bucknell University , Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
DeeAnn M
DM
Reeder
7 Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku , Turku, Finland .
Arto T
AT
Pulliainen
D000818:Animals; D001473:Bartonella / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001474:Bartonella Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D004269:DNA, Bacterial
Bartonella; Chiroptera; bats; endocarditis