Malagasy bats shelter a considerable genetic diversity of pathogenic Leptospira suggesting notable host-specificity patterns

Pathogenic Leptospira are the causative agents of leptospirosis, a disease of global concern with major impact in tropical regions. Despite the importance of this zoonosis for human health, the evolutionary and ecological drivers shaping bacterial communities in host reservoirs remain poorly investigated. Here, we describe Leptospira communities hosted by Malagasy bats, composed of mostly endemic species, in order to characterize host–pathogen associations and investigate their evolutionary histories. We screened 947 individual bats (representing 31 species, 18 genera and seven families) for Leptospira infection and subsequently genotyped positive samples using three different bacterial loci. Molecular identification showed that these Leptospira are notably diverse and include several distinct lineages mostly belonging to Leptospira borgpetersenii and L. kirschneri. The exploration of the most probable host-pathogen evolutionary scenarios suggests that bacterial genetic diversity result...致病性钩端螺旋体（Leptospira）是钩端螺旋体病的病原菌，该疾病备受全球关注，在热带地区造成严重危害。尽管这一人畜共患病对人类健康至关重要，但塑造宿主储存库内细菌群落的进化与生态驱动因素，目前仍未得到充分研究。本研究针对马达加斯加蝙蝠（宿主多为特有物种）所携带的钩端螺旋体群落展开描述，旨在明确宿主-病原体关联并解析其进化历史。研究共筛查了947只蝙蝠个体，涵盖31种、18属、7科，检测其钩端螺旋体感染情况，随后通过3个不同的细菌基因座对阳性样本进行基因分型。分子鉴定结果显示，此类钩端螺旋体具有显著多样性，包含多个独立演化支系，且多数归属于鲍氏钩端螺旋体（Leptospira borgpetersenii）与柯氏钩端螺旋体（L. kirschneri）。对最可能的宿主-病原体演化场景进行探索后表明，细菌的遗传多样性源于……