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Wang S, Wang S, Han X, Hornok S, Wang H, Wang N, Liu G, Yang M, Wang Y. Novel trypanosomatid species detected in Mongolian pikas (Ochotona pallasi) and their fleas in northwestern China. Parasit Vectors 2024; 17:152. [PMID: 38519971 PMCID: PMC10958963 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-024-06216-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In the family Trypanosomatidae, the genus Trypanosoma contains protozoan parasites that infect a diverse range of hosts, including humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Wild rodents, as natural reservoir hosts of various pathogens, play an important role in the evolution and emergence of Trypanosomatidae. To date, no reports are available on the trypanosomatid infection of pikas (Lagomorpha: Ochotonidae). METHODS In this study, Mongolian pikas and their fleas were sampled at the China-Mongolia border, northwestern China. The samples were analyzed with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing for the presence of Trypanosomatidae on the basis of both the 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) gene and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (gGAPDH) gene. The morphology of trypomastigotes was also observed in peripheral blood smears by microscopy. RESULTS Molecular and phylogenetic analyses revealed a new genotype of the Trypanosoma lewisi clade that was found both in pika blood and flea samples. This genotype, which probably represents a new species, was provisionally designated as "Trypanosoma sp. pika". In addition, a novel genotype belonging to the genus Blechomonas of Trypanosomatidae was detected in fleas. On the basis of its molecular and phylogenetic properties, this genotype was named Blechomonas luni-like, because it was shown to be the closest related to B. luni compared with other flea-associated trypanosomatids. CONCLUSIONS To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report any trypanosomatid species in Mongolian pikas and their fleas. Further studies are needed to investigate the epidemiology of these protozoan parasites, as well as to evaluate their pathogenicity for humans or domestic animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiyi Wang
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Suwen Wang
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Xiaoshuang Han
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Sándor Hornok
- Department of Parasitology and Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary
- HUN-REN-UVMB Climate Change, New Blood-Sucking Parasites and Vector-Borne Pathogens Research Group, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Huiqian Wang
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Nan Wang
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Gang Liu
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Meihua Yang
- College of Agriculture, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Republic of China
| | - Yuanzhi Wang
- Key Laboratory for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Public Health Security, the XPCC, School of Medicine, Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region, China.
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Tang X, Zhang L, Ren S, Zhao Y, Zhang Y. Temporal and geographic distribution of gut microbial enterotypes associated with host thermogenesis characteristics in plateau pikas. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0002023. [PMID: 37815332 PMCID: PMC10715161 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00020-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE The gut microbiotas of small mammals play an important role in host energy homeostasis. However, it is still unknown whether small mammals with different enterotypes show differences in thermogenesis characteristics. Our study confirmed that plateau pikas with different bacterial enterotypes harbored distinct thermogenesis capabilities and employed various strategies against cold environments. Additionally, we also found that pikas with different fungal enterotypes may display differences in coprophagy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianjiang Tang
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Liangzhi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining, China
| | - Shi'en Ren
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yaqi Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yanming Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining, China
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Tang X, Zhang L, Ren S, Zhao Y, Liu K, Zhang Y. Stochastic Processes Derive Gut Fungi Community Assembly of Plateau Pikas ( Ochotona curzoniae) along Altitudinal Gradients across Warm and Cold Seasons. J Fungi (Basel) 2023; 9:1032. [PMID: 37888290 PMCID: PMC10607853 DOI: 10.3390/jof9101032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Although fungi occupy only a small proportion of the microbial community in the intestinal tract of mammals, they play important roles in host fat accumulation, nutrition metabolism, metabolic health, and immune development. Here, we investigated the dynamics and assembly of gut fungal communities in plateau pikas inhabiting six altitudinal gradients across warm and cold seasons. We found that the relative abundances of Podospora and Sporormiella significantly decreased with altitudinal gradients in the warm season, whereas the relative abundance of Sarocladium significantly increased. Alpha diversity significantly decreased with increasing altitudinal gradient in the warm and cold seasons. Distance-decay analysis showed that fungal community similarities were significantly and negatively correlated with elevation. The co-occurrence network complexity significantly decreased along the altitudinal gradients as the total number of nodes, number of edges, and degree of nodes significantly decreased. Both the null and neutral model analyses showed that stochastic or neutral processes dominated the gut fungal community assembly in both seasons and that ecological drift was the main ecological process explaining the variation in the gut fungal community across different plateau pikas. Homogeneous selection played a weak role in structuring gut fungal community assembly during the warm season. Collectively, these results expand our understanding of the distribution patterns of gut fungal communities and elucidate the mechanisms that maintain fungal diversity in the gut ecosystems of small mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianjiang Tang
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810008, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Liangzhi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810008, China
| | - Shien Ren
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810008, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yaqi Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810008, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Kai Liu
- Qinghai Provincial Grassland Station, Xining 810008, China
| | - Yanming Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
- Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810008, China
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