Abstract
AbstractThe cricetine rodents Peromyscus leucopus and P. maniculatus are key reservoirs for several zoonotic diseases in North America. We determined the complete circular mitochondrial genome sequences of representatives of 3 different stock colonies of P. leucopus, one stock colony of P. maniculatus and two wild populations of P. leucopus. The genomes were syntenic with that of the murids Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that these two Peromyscus species are sister taxa in a clade with P. polionotus and also uncovered a distinction between P. leucopus populations in the eastern and the central United States. In one P. leucopus lineage four extended regions of mitochondrial pseudogenes were identified in the nuclear genome. RNA-seq analysis revealed transcription of the entire genome and differences from controls in the expression profiles of mitochondrial genes in the blood, but not in liver or brain, of animals infected with the zoonotic pathogen Borrelia hermsii. PCR and sequencing of the D-loop of the mitochondrion identified 32 different haplotypes among 118 wild P. leucopus at a Connecticut field site. These findings help to further establish P. leucopus as a model organism for studies of emerging infectious diseases, ecology, and in other disciplines.
Funder
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference42 articles.
1. Hall, E. R. Mammals of North America. Vol. 2 (John Wiley and Sons, 1979).
2. Musser, G. G. & Carleton, M. D. In Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (eds Wilson, D. E. & Reeder, D. M.) 894–1531 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005).
3. Steppan, S., Adkins, R. & Anderson, J. Phylogeny and divergence-date estimates of rapid radiations in muroid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes. Syst Biol 53, 533–553, https://doi.org/10.1080/10635150490468701 (2004).
4. Donahue, J. G., Piesman, J. & Spielman, A. Reservoir competence of white-footed mice for Lyme disease spirochetes. Am J Trop Med Hyg 36, 92–96 (1987).
5. Barbour, A. G., Bunikis, J., Fish, D. & Hanincova, K. Association between body size and reservoir competence of mammals bearing Borrelia burgdorferi at an endemic site in the northeastern United States. Parasit Vectors 8, 299, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-0903-5 (2015).