Page 14 - Abstract Book ICOH4

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Chiropteran Trypanosomes as A Possible Ancestor Of Zoonotic Trypanosoma Cruzi : Bat
Seeding' Hypothesis

Sato Hiroshi

Abstract

Bats are speciose mammals (the order Chiroptera), accounting for more than 20% of all mammalian
species in the world, and the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight with their wing-like forelimbs. Since
the beginning of the twentieth century, various morphotypes (or genotypes in the last decade) of hemoflagellates in
the genus Trypanosoma (Euglenozoa: Kinetoplastea: Trypanosomatidae) have been recorded worldwide in the blood
of bats. Fifty years ago, Hoare (1972) provisionally divided bat trypanosomes into two major morphotypes, i.e. the
“megadermae” group (corresponding to the subgenus Megatrypanum in the traditional taxonomic system) and the
“vespertilionis” groups (similarly, corresponding to the subgenus Schizotrypanum). Currently, trypanosomes of the
latter group are referred to as members of the ‘Trypanosoma cruzi clade’ as their phylogenetic relationships,
structure and life cycle conform to T. cruzi, causing “Chagas disease” in various terrestrial mammals as well as
humans in Latin America. Hamilton et al. (2012) proposed the ‘bat seeding’ hypothesis for a new explanation of the
zoonotic T. cruzi evolution, whereby lineages of bat trypanosomes have switched into terrestrial mammals, and
recent molecular studies have supported their hypothesis. My laboratory has demonstrated distribution of
Trypanosoma dionisii of the T. cruzi clade for the first time in Asia (Mafie et al. 2018). Chiropteran trypanosome
researches are briefly reviewed in this talk.

THE 4 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ONE HEALTH (ICOH)
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“Strengthening Collaboration in One Health Systems”