scholarly journals The Kidney-Associated Microbiome of Wild-Caught Artibeus spp. in Grenada, West Indies

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1571
Author(s):  
Maria E. Ramos-Nino ◽  
Daniel M. Fitzpatrick ◽  
Korin M. Eckstrom ◽  
Scott Tighe ◽  
Julie A. Dragon ◽  
...  

Bats are capable of asymptomatically carrying a diverse number of microorganisms, including human pathogens, due to their unique immune system. Because of the close contact between bats and humans, there is a possibility for interspecies transmission and consequential disease outbreaks. Herein, high-throughput sequencing was used to determine the kidney-associated microbiome of a bat species abundant in Grenada, West Indies, Artibeus spp. Results indicate that the kidney of these bats can carry potential human pathogens. An endogenous retrovirus, Desmodus rotundus endogenous retrovirus isolate 824, phylogenetically related to betaretroviruses from rodents and New World primates, was also identified.

mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e01354-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon H. Williams ◽  
Xiaoyu Che ◽  
Joel A. Garcia ◽  
John D. Klena ◽  
Bohyun Lee ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe microbiome of wildMus musculus(house mouse), a globally distributed invasive pest that resides in close contact with humans in urban centers, is largely unexplored. Here, we report analysis of the fecal virome of house mice in residential buildings in New York City, NY. Mice were collected at seven sites in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx over a period of 1 year. Unbiased high-throughput sequencing of feces revealed 36 viruses from 18 families and 21 genera, including at least 6 novel viruses and 3 novel genera. A representative screen of 15 viruses by PCR confirmed the presence of 13 of these viruses in liver. We identified an uneven distribution of diversity, with several viruses being associated with specific locations. Higher mouse weight was associated with an increase in the number of viruses detected per mouse, after adjusting for site, sex, and length. We found neither genetic footprints to known human viral pathogens nor antibodies to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus.IMPORTANCEMice carry a wide range of infectious agents with zoonotic potential. Their proximity to humans in the built environment is therefore a concern for public health. Laboratory mice are also the most common experimental model for investigating the pathobiology of infectious diseases. In this survey of mice trapped in multiple locations within New York City over a period of 1 year, we found a diverse collection of viruses that includes some previously not associated with house mice and others that appear to be novel. Although we found no known human pathogens, our findings provide insights into viral ecology and may yield models that have utility for clinical microbiology.


Itinerario ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Rosa de Jong

AbstractThe authors of three recent monographs, The Escape Line, Escape from Vichy, and Nearly the New World, highlight in particular the relevance of transnational refugee and resistance networks. These books shed new light on the trajectories of refugees through war-torn Europe and their routes out of it. Megan Koreman displays in The Escape Line the relevance of researching one line of resistance functioning in several countries and thereby shifts from the common nationalistic approach in resistance research. In Escape from Vichy Eric Jennings researches the government-endorsed flight route between Marseille and Martinique and explores the lasting impact of encounters between refugees and Caribbean Negritude thinkers. Joanna Newman explores the mainly Jewish refugees who found shelter in the British West Indies, with a focus on the role of aid organisations in this flight.


Epidemiologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-67
Author(s):  
Antoinette C. van der Kuyl

Old World monkeys (OWM), simians inhabiting Africa and Asia, are currently affected by at least four infectious retroviruses, namely, simian foamy virus (SFV), simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), simian T-lymphotropic virus (STLV), and simian type D retrovirus (SRV). OWM also show chromosomal evidence of having been infected in the past with four more retroviral species, baboon endogenous virus (BaEV), Papio cynocephalus endogenous virus (PcEV), simian endogenous retrovirus (SERV), and Rhesus endogenous retrovirus-K (RhERV-K/SERV-K1). For some of the viruses, transmission to other primates still occurs, resulting, for instance, in the HIV pandemic. Retroviruses are intimately connected with their host as they are normally spread by close contact. In this review, an attempt to reconstruct the distribution and history of OWM retroviruses will be made. A literature overview of the species infected by any of the eight retroviruses as well as an age estimation of the pathogens will be given. In addition, primate genomes from databases have been re-analyzed for the presence of endogenous retrovirus integrations. Results suggest that some of the oldest retroviruses, SERV and PcEV, have travelled with their hosts to Asia during the Miocene, when a higher global temperature allowed simian expansions. In contrast, younger viruses, such as SIV and SRV, probably due to the lack of a primate continuum between the continents in later times, have been restricted to Africa and Asia, respectively.


Author(s):  
Jeannie Chan ◽  
Wen Yao ◽  
Timothy D. Howard ◽  
Gregory A. Hawkins ◽  
Michael Olivier ◽  
...  

Zootaxa ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 3626 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROWLAND M. SHELLEY ◽  
DANIELA MARTINEZ-TORRES

In the New World, the milliped family Platyrhacidae (Polydesmida) is known or projected for Central Americasouth of southeastern Nicaraguaand the northern ¼ of South America, with disjunct, insular populations on Hispaniola(Haiti), Guadeloupe(Basse-Terre), and St. Lucia. Male near-topotypes enable redescription of Proaspis aitia Loomis, 1941, possibly endemic to the western end of the southern Haitian peninsula. The tibiotarsus of its biramous gonopodal telopodite bends strongly laterad, and the medially directed solenomere arises at midlength proximal to the bend. With a uniramous telopodite, P. sahlii Jeekel, 1980, on Guadeloupe, is not congeneric, and Hoffmanorhacus, n. gen., is erected to accommodate it. Nannorrhacus luciae (Pocock, 1894), onSt. Lucia, is redescribed; also with a biramous telopodite, its tibiotarsus arises distad and diverges from the coaxial solenomere. The Antillean species do not comprise a clade and are only distantly related; rather than introductions, they plausibly reflect ancestral occurrences on the “proto-Antillean” terrain before it rifted from “proto-SouthAmerica” in the Cretaceous/Paleocene, with fragmentation isolating modern forms on their present islands. Existing platyrhacid tribes are formally elevated to subfamilies as this category was omitted from recent taxonomies. Without unequivocal evidence to the contrary, geographically anomalous species should initially be regarded as indigenous rather than anthropochoric.


Zootaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4290 (3) ◽  
pp. 571
Author(s):  
MARIO G. IBARRA-POLESEL ◽  
NESTOR G. VALLE ◽  
JHON C. NEITA-MORENO ◽  
MIRYAM P. DAMBORSKY

Phileurus valgus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Phileurini) is a common species widely distributed from the southern United States to Argentina and the West Indies. In this work the immature stages are described and illustrated based on specimens from Argentina. A key to the known third-stage larvae of New World Phileurini species is provided and updated. Notes on the life cycle and natural history are also included. 


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (14) ◽  
pp. 941-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda Solórzano-García ◽  
Jaime Gasca-Pineda ◽  
Robert Poulin ◽  
Gerardo Pérez-Ponce de León

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 680-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiane Cäsar ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler

Abstract There is relatively good evidence that non-human primates can communicate about objects and events in their environment in ways that allow recipients to draw inferences about the nature of the event experienced by the signaller. In some species, there is also evidence that the basic semantic units are not individual calls, but call sequences and the combinations generated by them. These two findings are relevant to theories pertaining to the origins of human language because of the resemblances of these phenomena with linguistic reference and syntactic organisation. Until recently, however, most research efforts on the primate origins of human language have involved Old World species with comparatively few systematic studies on New World monkeys, which has prevented insights into the deeper phylogenetic roots and evolutionary origins of language-relevant capacities. To address this, we review the older primate literature and very recent evidence for functionally referential communication and call combinations in New World primates. Within the existing literature there is ample evidence in both Callitrichids and Ce-bids for acoustically distinct call variants given to external disturbances that are accompanied by distinct behavioural responses. A general pattern is that one call type is typically produced in response to a wide range of general disturbances, often on the ground but also including inter-group encounters, while another call type is produced in response to a much narrower range of aerial threats. This pattern is already described for Old World monkeys and Prosimians, suggesting an early evolutionary origin. Second, recent work with black-fronted titi monkeys has produced evidence for different alarm call sequences consisting of acoustically distinct call types. These sequences appear to encode several aspects of the predation event simultaneously, notably predator type and location. Since meaningful call sequences have already been described in Old World primates, we suggest that basic combinatorial vocal communication has evolved in the primate lineage long before the advent of language. Moreover, it is possible that some of these communicative abilities have evolved even earlier, or independently, as there is comparable evidence in other taxonomic groups. We discuss these findings in an attempt to shed further light on the primate stock from which human language has arisen.


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