Title
Detection of Trypanosoma cruzi in the saliva of diverse neotropical bats
Date Issued
01 May 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Bergner L.M.
Becker D.J.
Carrera J.E.
Streicker D.G.
Publisher(s)
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Abstract
Trypanosoma cruzi is widely reported in bats, yet transmission routes remain unclear. We present evidence from metagenomic sequence data that T. cruzi occurs in the saliva of diverse Neotropical bats. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrated that the bat-associated T. cruzi sequences described here formed part of a bat-specific clade, suggesting an independent transmission cycle. Our results highlight the value in repurposing metagenomic data generated for viral discovery to reveal insights into the biology of other parasites. Evaluating whether the presence of T. cruzi in the saliva of two hematophagous bat species represents an ecological route for zoonotic transmission of Chagas disease is an interesting avenue for future research.
Start page
271
End page
276
Volume
68
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Salud pública, Salud ambiental Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85099766860
PubMed ID
Source
Zoonoses and Public Health
ISSN of the container
18631959
Sponsor(s)
Funding was provided by a University of Glasgow Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund Early Career Researcher Catalyst Grant. Additional support was provided by the Wellcome Trust (Wellcome-Beit Prize: 102507/Z/13/A; Wellcome Senior Research Fellowship: 102507/Z/13/Z) and the Human Frontier Science Program (Grant RGP0013/2018). We thank Philipp Schwabl, Diana Meza and Nicole Gottdenker for helpful discussions.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus