Genomes, expression profiles, and diversity of mitochondria of the White-footed Deermouse Peromyscus leucopus, reservoir of Lyme disease and other zoonoses

Abstract

The cricetine rodents Peromyscus leucopus and P. maniculatus are key reservoirs for several zoonotic diseases in North America. We determined the complete circular mitochondrial genome sequences of representatives of 3 different stock colonies of P. leucopus, one stock colony of P. maniculatus and two wild populations of P. leucopus. The genomes were syntenic with that of the murids Mus musculus and Rattus norvegicus. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that these two Peromyscus species are sister taxa in a clade with P. polionotus and also uncovered a distinction between P. leucopus populations in the eastern and the central United States. In one P. leucopus lineage four extended regions of mitochondrial pseudogenes were identified in the nuclear genome. RNA-seq analysis revealed transcription of the entire genome and differences from controls in the expression profiles of mitochondrial genes in the blood, but not in liver or brain, of animals infected with the zoonotic pathogen Borrelia hermsii. PCR and sequencing of the D-loop of the mitochondrion identified 32 different haplotypes among 118 wild P. leucopus at a Connecticut field site. These findings help to further establish P. leucopus as a model organism for studies of emerging infectious diseases, ecology, and in other disciplines.

The infection-tolerant mammalian reservoir of Lyme disease and other zoonoses broadly counters the inflammatory effects of endotoxin

“…The infected animals had enlarged spleens, as well as large numbers of bacteria in the spleens, as assessed by quantitative PCR (Table S17). We used previously collected PE100 reads for the blood of these animals [37] for first measuring unique reads mapping to mRNA sequences of selected genes. As we observed in the blood of LPStreated deermice, Nos2 expression was not or barely detectable in either the controls and infected animals.…”

Lactobacilli and other gastrointestinal microbiota of Peromyscus leucopus, reservoir host for agents of Lyme disease and other zoonoses in North America

“…Finally, this exploration and curation of microbes in the gut of the white-footed deermouse concludes the third leg of our project on the total genome of representative animals of the species: the nuclear genome [18], the mitochondrial genome [17], and now the GI microbiome [85]. This provides a foundation for testing of hypotheses by selective manipulation of the microbiota, for instance, by specifically targeting a certain species with a lytic phage or bacteriocin, to which it is not immune, and then evaluating the phenotype of the animal after this "knock-out".…”

“…The species identification of the source of the fecal pellets as P . leucopus was confirmed by sequencing of the D-loop of the mitochondrion as described [ 17 ].…”

“…Fecal pellets were collected and kept at -20˚C on site, during shipment and until DNA extraction. The species identification of the source of the fecal pellets as P. leucopus was confirmed by sequencing of the D-loop of the mitochondrion as described [17].…”

“…P. leucopus' importance as a pathogen reservoir, its resilience in the face of infection, and its appealing features as an animal model [6,16], prompted our genetic characterization of this species, beginning with sequencing and annotating its nuclear and mitochondrial genomes [17,18]. The present study represents the third leg of this project, namely the microbial portion of the total animal "genome" for this species.…”