Characterizing Pneumocystis in the Lungs of Bats: Understanding Pneumocystis Evolution and the Spread of Pneumocystis Organisms in Mammal Populations

Abstract

ABSTRACTBats belong to a wide variety of species and occupy diversified habitats, from cities to the countryside. Their different diets (i.e., nectarivore, frugivore, insectivore, hematophage) lead Chiroptera to colonize a range of ecological niches. These flying mammals exert an undisputable impact on both ecosystems and circulation of pathogens that they harbor.Pneumocystisspecies are recognized as major opportunistic fungal pathogens which cause life-threatening pneumonia in severely immunocompromised or weakened mammals.Pneumocystisconsists of a heterogeneous group of highly adapted host-specific fungal parasites that colonize a wide range of mammalian hosts. In the present study, 216 lungs of 19 bat species, sampled from diverse biotopes in the New and Old Worlds, were examined. Each bat species may be harboring a specificPneumocystisspecies. We report 32.9% ofPneumocystiscarriage in wild bats (41.9% in Microchiroptera). Ecological and behavioral factors (elevation, crowding, migration) seemed to influence thePneumocystiscarriage. This study suggests thatPneumocystis-host association may yield much information onPneumocystistransmission, phylogeny, and biology in mammals. Moreover, the link between genetic variability ofPneumocystisisolated from populations of the same bat species and their geographic area could be exploited in terms of phylogeography.