‘ Candidatus Mycoplasma haemoalbiventris’, a novel hemoplasma species in white‐eared opossums ( Didelphis albiventris ) from Brazil

Abstract

Opossums of the genus Didelphis are considered synanthropic animals due to their close contact with human beings. Previously, two species of hemotropic mycoplasmas (hemoplasmas) have been detected in opossums: 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemodidelphidis' in the North American opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and a potentially novel hemotropic Mycoplasma sp. in the white-eared opossums (Didelphis albiventris) from Brazil. Accordingly, the aims of this study were as follows: (a) to determine the prevalence of hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. in free-ranging opossums, (b) to characterize molecularly the hemotropic Mycoplasma sp. infecting opossums and (c) to determine factors associated with hemoplasma infection in opossums from Canoinhas municipality, Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil. For this purpose, 50 How to cite this article: Pontarolo GH, Kühl LF, Pedrassani D, et al. 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemoalbiventris', a novel hemoplasma species in white-eared opossums (Didelphis albiventris) from Brazil.

Worldwide occurrence of haemoplasmas in wildlife: Insights into the patterns of infection, transmission, pathology and zoonotic potential

“…This haemoplasma has been recently proposed to be a novel species, named Ca. M. haemoalbiventris, according to sequence analysis of 16S and 23S rRNA gene amplicons (Pontarolo et al, 2020). In another study, none out of 30 specimens of four species, including some white-eared opossums, were infected by haemoplasmas (de Sousa et al, 2017).…”

‘ Candidatus Mycoplasma haematonasua’ and tick‐borne pathogens in ring‐tailed coatis ( Nasua nasua Linnaeus, 1976) from the Iguaçu National Park, Paraná State, southern Brazil

“…The gapdh gene was consistently amplified in all ring-tailed coati (Barker et al, 2011;Pontarolo et al, 2021;Valente et al, 2020;Vieira et al, 2021). On this pattern, the 23S rRNA sequences amplified in the present study showed only 94.3%-94.1% identity to 'Ca.…”

‘Candidatus Mycoplasma haemoalbiventris’ and tick-borne pathogens screening in white-eared opossums (Didelphis albiventris) from Curitiba and Foz do Iguaçu Cities, Paraná State, southern Brazil

“…M. haemoalbiventris', while all the animals from Curitiba City tested negative. Previous studies have found higher hemoplasma prevalence rates (ranging from 32.5-87.5%) in white-eared opossums from different geographic regions and biomes (Atlantic Forest and Cerrado) of Brazil (Massini et al, 2019;Gonçalves et al, 2020;Pontarolo et al, 2021). Although Curitiba City is also located in the Atlantic rainforest biome, we hypothesize that its altitude (940 m a.s.l.)…”

“…Hemotropic mycoplasmas (hemoplasmas) are Gram-negative bacteria that attach to the surface of red blood cells from mammals and may cause hemolytic anemia. Two hemotropic Mycoplasma species have been described in Didelphis, namely 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemodidelphis' (Messick et al, 2002) and 'Candidatus Mycoplasma haemoalbiventris' (Pontarolo et al, 2021). Due to the proximity of human dwellings and human-animal interactions, monitoring ticks and the health status of opossums is a public health concern.…”

“…and annual average temperature (17.4 °C) may influence habits and behavior of the opossums, and thus, their exposure to hemoplasmas, which may explain the negative results found herein. Additionally, differences in the prevalence of hemoplasma between studies may have not be due to the diagnostic test used, since to date, all studies on the detection of hemoplasmas in Brazilian opossums have used conventional PCR assays as diagnostic method (Massini et al, 2019;Gonçalves et al, 2020;Pontarolo et al, 2021).…”