Adaptation of gltA and ssrA assays for diversity profiling by Illumina sequencing to identify Bartonella species

The aim of this study was to adopt a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach using Illumina sequencing technology to identify Bartonella species and demonstrate that this approach can resolve mixed Bartonella infections. To do so, we targeted the ssrA and gltA genes of Bartonella in fleas. We included artificially mixed Bartonella samples to demonstrate the ability for NGS to resolve mixed infections and compared NGS to traditional Sanger sequencing.