Molecular Characterization of Anaplasma sp. in Free-Living Gray Brockets (Mazama gouazoubira)

Bacteria in the genus Anaplasma are responsible for diseases in animals and humans. Studies carried out in Brazil have demonstrated that Brazilian deer are able to act as hosts of agents in the family Anaplasmataceae and are possibly potential reservoirs of these pathogens. Molecular and phylogenetic studies have been carried out on samples of two gray brocket specimens ( Mazama gouazoubira ) from the city of Guarapuava, state of Paraná, Brazil, for the detection of Anaplasma sp. in these animals. Partial nucleotide sequences of the genes 16S rRNA and groESL were used for phylogenetic analyses and compared with other 13 and 17 partial sequences of the respective genes obtained in GenBank . These assessments showed topological incongruence among the trees generated in the phylogenetic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis based on the gene 16S rRNA of the genotypes amplified in the samples of this study was similar to those of A. bovis detected in dogs and wild deer in Japan, whereas studies carried out on gene groESL indicated proximity with sequences of Anaplasma sp. that were also isolated in deer in Japan and allocated in the same clade of partial sequences of A. phagocytophilum. As the 16S rRNA gene is highly conserved, with few polymorphic positions, it may show low reliability for studies on phylogenetic positioning. The present study detected an Anaplasma sp. genotype in two specimens of M. gouazoubira in southern Brazil, which may mean that this agent possibly circulates in deer populations, and demonstrated the need for studies related to the possible role of deer in enzootic cycles of Anaplasmataceae in Brazil.