Diversity of Bartonella species detected in arthropod vectors from animals in Australia

A variety of Bartonella species were detected in two species of ticks and three species of fleas collected from marsupial hosts; brush-tailed bettong or woylie (Bettongia penicillata) and western barred bandicoots (Perameles bougainville) and from a rodent host; Rattus fuscipes in Western Australia. Bartonella species were detected using nested-PCR of the gltA gene and the 16S–23S ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), and species were characterized using DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA, gltA, rpoB, ftsZ genes and the ITS region. Bartonella rattaustraliani and B. coopersplainsensis were detected in Ixodes spp. ticks and fleas (Stephanocircus pectinipes) respectively collected from rodents. Two novel Bartonella species were detected from marsupials; Candidatus Bartonella woyliei n. sp. was detected in both fleas (Pygiopsylla hilli) and ticks (Ixodes australiensis) collected from woylies and Candidatus Bartonella bandicootii n. sp. was detected in fleas (Pygiopsylla tunneyi) collected from western barred bandicoots. Concatenated phylogenetic analysis of all 5 loci clarified the marsupial cluster of Bartonella species in Australia and confirmed the species status of these two Bartonella species in ticks and fleas from woylies and western barred bandicoots, which are classified as threatened species and are vulnerable to extinction.     

Candidatus Bartonella antechini: a novel Bartonella species detected in fleas and ticks from the yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes), an Australian marsupial

Bartonella are fastidious, Gram-negative, aerobic bacilli belonging to the Alphaproteobacteria group. In the last ten years, the discovery of new Bartonella species from a variety of mammalian hosts, arthropod vectors and geographical areas has increased. More than 20 species of Bartonella have been identified, of which approximately thirteen are associated with disease in humans and animals. Recently, four novel species of Bartonella were isolated from mammalian hosts in Australia: Bartonella australis from eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) and Bartonella rattaustraliani, Bartonella queenslandensis and Bartonella coopersplainsensis from rodents. Bartonella-like organisms have also been detected from Ixodes tasmani ticks collected from koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus). However, very little is known about Bartonella spp. in other marsupials in Australia. We report the identification of a novel Bartonella species detected from fleas (Acanthopsylla jordani) and ticks (Ixodes antechini) collected from a small carnivorous marsupial, Antechinus flavipes (Mardos or Yellow-footed antechinus) in the southwest of Western Australia. New nested-PCRs targeting the gltA gene and the ribosomal ITS region were developed as part of the present study. DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA, gltA, ftsZ and rpoB genes and the ribosomal ITS region revealed that this detection is a distinct Bartonella species and is related to B. australis isolated from kangaroos. This is the first report of two different possible arthropod vectors in Australia (ticks and fleas) being infected with the same species of Bartonella. We propose the name Candidatus Bartonella antechini n. sp. for the recently characterized organism.