Data from: 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 results from a combination of events related to the ecology and the evolutionary history of their hosts. Importantly, based on the data set presented herein, the notable host-specificity we have uncovered, together with a lack of geographical structuration of bacterial genetic diversity, indicates that the Leptospira community at a given site depends on the co-occurring bat species assemblage. The implications of such tight host-specificity on the epidemiology of leptospirosis are discussed.

致病性钩端螺旋体（Pathogenic Leptospira）是钩端螺旋体病（leptospirosis）的致病菌，该疾病受全球广泛关注，对热带地区造成了重大公共卫生负担。尽管这种人畜共患病对人类健康至关重要，但目前针对宿主贮库中细菌群落形成的进化与生态驱动因素的研究仍较为匮乏。本研究对马达加斯加蝙蝠（其中多数为特有物种）携带的钩端螺旋体群落进行了描述，旨在明确宿主-病原体关联关系并解析其进化历程。本研究共筛查947只蝙蝠个体，涵盖7科18属31个物种，检测其是否感染钩端螺旋体；随后针对检测呈阳性的样本，通过3个不同的细菌基因座（loci）完成了基因分型。分子鉴定结果显示，该钩端螺旋体群落具有显著的多样性，包含多个独特的进化谱系，多数隶属于博氏钩端螺旋体（Leptospira borgpetersenii）与柯氏钩端螺旋体（L. kirschneri）。对宿主-病原体最可能的进化场景进行探究后发现，细菌的遗传多样性源自与宿主生态学特征及进化历史相关的多重事件的共同作用。值得注意的是，基于本研究提供的数据集，我们所揭示的显著宿主特异性，以及钩端螺旋体遗传多样性缺乏地理结构的特征，均表明特定区域的钩端螺旋体群落结构取决于当地共存的蝙蝠物种组合。本研究还探讨了这种严格宿主特异性对钩端螺旋体病流行病学的潜在影响。