Expanded diversity of novel hemoplasmas in rare and undersampled Neotropical bats

Abstract

AbstractHemotropic mycoplasmas are emerging as a model system for studying bacterial pathogens in bats, but taxonomic coverage of sampled host species remains biased. We leveraged a long-term field study in Belize to uncover novel hemoplasma diversity in bats by analyzing 80 samples from 19 species, most of which are infrequently encountered. PCR targeting the partial 16S rRNA gene found 41% of bats positive for hemoplasmas. Phylogenetic analyses found two novel host shifts of hemoplasmas, four entirely new hemoplasma genotypes, and the first hemoplasma detections in four bat species. One of these novel hemoplasmas (fromNeoeptesicus furinalis) shared 97.6% identity in the partial 16S rRNA gene to a human hemoplasma (CandidatusMycoplasma haemohominis). Additional analysis of the partial 23S rRNA gene allowed us to also designate two novel hemoplasma species, inMyotis elegansandPhyllostomus discolor, with the proposed namesCandidatusMycoplasma haematomyotis sp. nov. andCandidatusMycoplasma haematophyllostomi sp. nov., respectively. Our analyses show that additional hemoplasma diversity in bats can be uncovered by targeting rare or undersampled host species.