Dados do Trabalho

Título

ASSESSMENT OF TRYPANOSOMATIDAE DIVERSITY IN NASUA NASUA FROM URBAN FOREST FRAGMENTS IN BRAZILIAN MIDWEST

Introdução

Nasua nasua has been considered a key host species in trypanosomatid enzootiology at Pantanal biome because they present high rates of infection and high parasitemia of Trypanosoma cruzi DTUs TcI and TcII, T. evansi and T. rangeli.

Objetivo (s)

Because this carnivore species is considered a bioaccumulator of trypanosomes and has a huge population density in some urban forested fragments, we aimed to access the diversity of trypanosomatid parasites infecting free-living coatis from an urban area of Campo Grande/MS.

Material e Métodos

Blood and bone marrow samples were collected and submitted to DNA extraction using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue kit (Invitrogen ®, Unites States). Posteriorly these samples were tested in a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) targeting the constitutive gene responsible for beta-globin production to assure sample viability. Next, the samples were submitted to a nested PCR targeting a variable region of the 18S rRNA gene of trypanosomatids. Amplified products were purified through ExoSAP-IT PCR Product Cleanup Reagent (Applied Biosystems ®, Unites States) and sequenced in in a Big Dye terminator cycle sequencing (version 3.1, Applied Biosystems ®, Unites States). The sequences obtained were analyzed through the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), aligned and compared to sequences deposited in GenBank.

Resultados e Conclusão

The infection rate in blood samples was 36.9% (24/65), and in bone marrow samples was 24.5% (13/53). Eighteen blood and one bone marrow sample were submitted to sequencing. The BLAST analyses revealed the occurrence of three trypanosomatid species: Leishmania infantum was detected in the majority of blood samples (n=14), followed by T. cruzi found in four blood samples, and Leishmania amazonensis and Trypanosomatidae sp. ‘srain Eva’ in a bone marrow and a blood sample respectively. Considering the endemicity of human and canine leishmaniasis in the studied area, our results indicate that coatis are included in the local enzootiology of L. infantum. We highlight that coatis are potential hosts of other trypanosomatid of public health concern as T. cruzi and L. amazonensis. Moreover, since the Trypanosomatidae sp. ‘srain Eva’ was detected only in Lutzomyia evansi from Venezuela, the present work increases the geographic distribution and the range of host for this unknown trypanosomatid.

Palavras-chave

South American coati; Trypanosoma cruzi; Leishmania infantum

Agradecimentos

Inova FIOCRUZ (process 31081634214-4298), FAPERJ