Acta Tropica 109 (2009) 199–207 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Acta Tropica journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actatropica Trypanosoma rangeli isolates of bats from Central Brazil: Genotyping and phylogenetic analysis enable description of a new lineage using spliced-leader gene sequences F. Maia da Silva a , A. Marcili a , L. Lima a , M. Cavazzana Jr. a,b , P.A. Ortiz a , M. Campaner a , G.F. Takeda a,c , F. Paiva d , V.L.B. Nunes e , E.P. Camargo a , M.M.G. Teixeira a,∗ a Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil b Faculdade de Medicina de Catanduva, Catanduva, São Paulo, SP, Brazil c Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas (FMU), São Paulo, SP, Brazil d Departamento de Parasitologia Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, MS, Brazil e Centro de Ciências Biológicas Agrárias e da Saúde, Universidade para o Desenvolvimento do Estado e da Região do Pantanal (UNIDERP), Campo Grande, MS, Brazil article info Article history: Received 14 July 2008 Received in revised form 11 September 2008 Accepted 13 November 2008 Available online 20 November 2008 Keywords: Trypanosoma rangeli Bats Rhodnius stali Chiropteran parasites Schizotrypanum Phylogeny Genotyping Trypanosome diversity Spliced leader gene abstract Trypanosoma rangeli infects several mammalian orders but has never confidently been described in Chiroptera, which are commonly parasitized by many trypanosome species. Here, we described try- panosomes from bats captured in Central Brazil identified as T. rangeli, T. dionisii, T. cruzimarinkellei and T. cruzi. Two isolates, Tra643 from Platyrrhinus lineatus and Tra1719 from Artibeus planirostris were identified as T. rangeli by morphological, biological and molecular methods, and confirmed by phylogenetic analy- ses. Analysis using SSU rDNA sequences clustered these bat trypanosomes together with T. rangeli from other hosts, and separated them from other trypanosomes from bats. Genotyping based on length and sequence polymorphism of PCR-amplified intergenic spliced-leader gene sequences assigned Tra1719 to the lineage A whereas Tra643 was shown to be a new genotype and was assigned to the new lineage E. To our knowledge, these two isolates are the earliest T. rangeli from bats and the first isolates from Central Brazil molecularly characterized. Rhodnius stali captured for this study was found infected by T. rangeli and T. cruzi. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Chiropterans of different families and genera are commonly infected by Trypanosoma species. Bats with different feeding habits are hosts of trypanosomes, although the insectivorous are the more commonly infected. Over 30 species of trypanosomes have been recorded in more than a hundred species of bats (Molyneux, 1991). In the American continent, trypanosomes classified as T. cruzi- like were reported in several species of Chiroptera from several countries including Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil (Hoare, 1972; Marinkelle, 1976; Molyneux, 1991). In Brazil, over 40 species of bats were found infected with more than 10 species of trypanosomes. Surveys of trypanosomes of bats in Brazil began in the Amazonian region (Dias, 1936; Deane, 1961) followed by studies in the Southeast (Funayama and Barretto, 1970, 1973; ∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +55 11 30917417. E-mail address: mmgteix@icb.usp.br (M.M.G. Teixeira). Teixeira et al., 1993), Northeast (Alencar et al., 1976; Pinto and Bento, 1986) and South (Steindel et al., 1998). Despite the vast knowledge regarding the occurrence of trypanosomes in bats, little is known about their natural vectors and development in both vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Most trypanosome species described in bats belong to the sub- genera Schizotrypanum and Megatrypanum. Very few described species belong to the subgenus Herpetosoma to which Trypanosoma rangeli was traditionally classified (Hoare, 1972; D’Alessandro and Saravia, 1999; Marinkelle, 1976; Molyneux, 1991). However, phy- logenetic analyses indicated that the subgenus Herpetosoma is polyphyletic and strongly supported division of this group into two monophyletic lineages related to T. rangeli and T. lewisi (Maia da Silva et al., 2004b, 2007). The existing reports on species of Herpeto- soma in bats have described T. lineatum (T. lewisi-like) in Venezuela, T. lewisi in Puerto Rico, T. longiflagellum in Iraq and T. aunauwa in New Guinea (Fox and Thillet, 1962; Ewers, 1974; Marinkelle, 1977). Trypanosomes morphologically resembling T. rangeli infecting bats have only been described in Colombia (Marinkelle, 1976). 0001-706X/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.actatropica.2008.11.005