Comparative study of African and South American trypanosomes of ungulates: molecular diversity, diagnosis, phylogeny and epidemiology

• Grant number: 16/03028-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: June 01, 2016
• End date: May 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: Marta Maria Geraldes Teixeira
• Grantee: Herakles Antonio Garcia Perez
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

African Animal Trypanosomiasis causes severe negative economic impact in livestock productivity in Africa, and recently also in Brazil and other South American countries. Trypanosoma vivax, T. congolense, T. b. brucei, T. simiae, T. godfreyi, T. suis, T. evansi and T. equiperdum are all pathogenic species of African origin that affect ungulates, mostly enzootias of wild ungulates transmitted by tsetse flies. T. vivax, T. evansi and T. equiperdum are the only African trypanosomes found outside Africa, introduced into America with livestock brought by European settlers and mechanically transmitted, mostly by biting flies. T. theileri and allied species infect domestic and wild ruminants worldwide inducing chronic and asymptomatic infections. New molecular approaches have shown a remarkable genetic diversity within Trypanosoma, including of non-pathogenic and pathogenic species, and trypanosomes that represent a potential risk to animal production. Analyses of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among trypanosomes of diverse hosts and vectors from distant regions are essential to the understanding of parasites-vertebrates-vectors associations, transmission cycles, tracking of outbreak sources, and to examine potential links between genotypes, hosts and disease. Cooperative studies with several researchers from Brazil, other South American countries and Africa have allowed us to obtain a large trypanosome collection from wild and domestic ungulates and their vectors, as well as a large set of DNA sequences from several genes and entire genomes. The main goal of this project is to expand the knowledge on genetic diversity, phylogeny and eco-phylogeographical patterns of ungulate trypanosomes. Data from this study will be valuable to understand the evolutionary history; to infer hypothesis regarding the origin, adaptation and expansion of genotypes introduced into South America; to assess links between species/genotypes and hosts, geographical origin, pathogenicity and virulence; and to identify new targets for diagnosis, genotyping, vaccines and drugs. (AU)

Scientific publications

(10)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FLORENTIN, ANDREA S.; GARCIA PEREZ, HERAKLES A.; RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; DUBOIS, EUGENIO F.; MONZON, CARLOS M.; TEIXEIRA, MARTA M. G.. Molecular epidemiological insights into Trypanosoma vivax in Argentina: From the endemic Gran Chaco to outbreaks in the Pampas. TRANSBOUNDARY AND EMERGING DISEASES, APR 2021. (16/07487-0, 16/03028-1)

RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; SHEFERAW, DESIE; RODRIGUES, ADRIANA C.; PEREIRA, CARLOS L.; CAMARGO, ERNEY P.; TEIXEIRA, MARTA M. G.. Genetic diversity of trypanosomes pathogenic to livestock in tsetse flies from the Nech Sar National Park in Ethiopia: A concern for tsetse suppressed area in Southern Rift Valley?. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION, v. 69, p. 38-47, APR 2019. (16/03028-1, 16/07487-0)

ORTIZ, PAOLA A.; GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; LIMA, LUCIANA; DA SILVA, FLAVIA MAIA; CAMPANER, MARTA; PEREIRA, CARLOS L.; JITTAPALAPONG, SATHAPORN; NEVES, LUIS; DESQUESNES, MARC; CAMARGO, ERNEY P.; et al. Diagnosis and genetic analysis of the worldwide distributed Rattus-borne Trypanosoma (Herpetosoma) lewisi and its allied species in blood and fleas of rodents. INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION, v. 63, p. 380-390, SEP 2018. (16/03028-1, 16/07487-0)

GARCIA PEREZ, HERAKLES ANTONIO; FILGUEIRA RODRIGUES, CARLA MONADELI; VIVAS PIVAT, ISIS HELGA; RODRIGUES FUZATO, ADRIANA CARLOS; CAMARGO, ERNEY P.; HAMAD MINERVINO, ANTONIO HUMBERTO; GERALDES TEIXEIRA, MARTA MARIA. High Trypanosoma vivax infection rates in water buffalo and cattle in the Brazilian Lower Amazon. Parasitology International, v. 79, p. 9-pg., 2020-12-01. (16/07487-0, 16/03028-1)

GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; RANGEL, CARLOS J.; ORTIZ, PAOLA A.; CALZADILLA, CARLOS O.; CORONADO, RAUL A.; SILVA, ARTURO J.; PEREZ, ARLETT M.; LECUNA, JESMIL C.; GARCIA, MARIA E.; AGUIRRE, AIXA M.; et al. Zoonotic Trypanosomes in Rats and Fleas of Venezuelan Slums. ECOHEALTH, v. 16, n. 3, OCT 2019. (16/03028-1)

GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; BLANCO, PILAR A.; RODRIGUES, ADRIANA C.; RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; TAKATA, CARMEN S. A.; CAMPANER, MARTA; CAMARGO, ERNEY P.; TEIXEIRA, MARTA M. G.. Pan-American Trypanosoma (Megatrypanum) trinaperronei n. sp. in the white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann and its deer ked Lipoptena mazamae Rondani, 1878: morphological, developmental and phylogeographical characterisation. PARASITES & VECTORS, v. 13, n. 1, JUN 12 2020. (16/03028-1, 16/07487-0)

GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; RODRIGUES, ADRIANA C.; PEREIRA, DAGMAR L.; PEREIRA, CARLOS L.; CAMARGO, ERNEY P.; HAMILTON, P. B.; TEIXEIRA, MARTA M. G.. Remarkable richness of trypanosomes in tsetse flies (Glossina morsitans morsitans and Glossina pallidipes) from the Gorongosa National Park and Niassa National Reserve of Mozambique revealed by fluorescent fragment length barcoding (FFLB). INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION, v. 63, p. 370-379, SEP 2018. (16/03028-1, 16/07487-0)

GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; RAMIREZ, ONEYDA J.; RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; SANCHEZ, RAFAEL G.; BETHENCOURT, ANGELICA M.; PEREZ, GABRIELA DEL M.; MINERVINO, ANTONIO H. H.; RODRIGUES, ADRIANA C.; TEIXEIRA, MARTA M. G.. Trypanosoma vivax in water buffalo of the Venezuelan Llanos: An unusual outbreak of wasting disease in an endemic area of typically asymptomatic infections. Veterinary Parasitology, v. 230, p. 49-55, OCT 30 2016. (16/03028-1)

RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; GARCIA, HERAKLES A.; RODRIGUES, ADRIANA C.; COSTA-MARTINS, ANDRE G.; PEREIRA, CARLOS L.; PEREIRA, DAGMAR L.; BENGALY, ZAKARIA; NEVES, LUIS; CAMARGO, ERNEY P.; HAMILTON, PATRICK B.; et al. New insights from Gorongosa National Park and Niassa National Reserve of Mozambique increasing the genetic diversity of Trypanosoma vivax and Trypanosoma vivax-like in tsetse flies, wild ungulates and livestock from East Africa. PARASITES & VECTORS, v. 10, JUL 17 2017. (16/03028-1, 16/07487-0)

FLORENTIN, ANDREA S.; GARCIA PEREZ, HERAKLES A.; RODRIGUES, CARLA M. F.; DUBOIS, EUGENIO F.; MONZON, CARLOS M.; TEIXEIRA, MARTA M. G.. Molecular epidemiological insights into Trypanosoma vivax in Argentina: From the endemic Gran Chaco to outbreaks in the Pampas. TRANSBOUNDARY AND EMERGING DISEASES, v. 69, n. 3, p. 11-pg., 2021-04-20. (16/07487-0, 16/03028-1)