Bartonella isolated from rodents living in the Negev Desert sand dunes

Bartonella bacteria are widespread parasites that infect humans and other mammalian hosts. This project sequenced the genomes of diverse Bartonella isolated from natural rodent populations that live in the sand dunes of the Negev Desert in Israel. The study goals were to characterize genetic mechanisms that these parasites have evolved to rapidly generate variation that allows them to avoid immune responses and infect new hosts.

巴尔通体菌（Bartonella）是一类广泛分布的寄生虫，可感染人类及其他哺乳动物宿主。本项目对分离自以色列内盖夫沙漠沙丘自然鼠类种群的多种巴尔通体菌进行了基因组测序。本研究的目标是解析这些寄生虫演化出的快速产生变异的遗传机制，该变异可帮助其逃避宿主免疫应答并感染新的宿主。