@article {96268, title = {High Genetic Diversity and Rickettsia felis in Pediculus humanus Lice Infesting Mbuti (pygmy people), -Democratic Republic of Congo}, journal = {Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology}, volume = {12}, year = {2022}, month = {Mar-02-2022}, pages = {10 pp}, type = {Open Access}, abstract = {

Pediculus humanus is an obligate bloodsucking parasite of humans that has two ecotypes, the head louse and the body louse, which share an intimate history of coevolution with their human host. In the present work, we obtained and analysed head and body lice collected from Mbuti pygmies living in the Orientale province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cytochrome b DNA analysis was performed in order to type the six known lice clades (A, D, B, F, C and E). The results revealed the presence of two mitochondrial clades. Clade D was the most frequent (61.7\% of 47), followed by clade A (38.3\% of 47). Sixteen haplotypes were found in 47 samples, of which thirteen were novel haplotypes, indicating an unusually high genetic diversity that closely mirrors the diversity of their hosts. Moreover, we report for the first time the presence of the DNA of R. felis in three (6.4\% of 47) head and body lice belonging to both clades A and D. Additional studies are needed to clarify whether the Pediculus lice can indeed transmit this emerging zoonotic bacterium to their human hosts.

}, keywords = {Democratic Republic of Congo, Genetic diversity, Mbuti pygmies, Rickettsia felis}, issn = {2235-2988}, doi = {10.3389/fcimb.2022.834388}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2022.834388/full}, author = {Nadia Amanzougaghene and Rezak Drali and Jean-Christophe Shako and Bernard Davoust and Florence Fenollar and Didier Raoult and Oleg Mediannikov} } @article {95151, title = {Mitochondrial diversity and phylogeographic analysis of Pediculus humanus reveals a new Amazonian clade {\textquotedblleft}F{\textquotedblright}}, journal = {Infection, Genetics and Evolution}, volume = {70}, year = {2019}, month = {06-2019}, pages = {1 - 8}, abstract = {

Pediculus humanus is an obligate and highly intimate bloodsucking insect parasite of humans that has two ecotypes, head louse and body louse. This study analyzed genetic diversity at three mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b [cytb], cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 [cox1] and 12S ribosomal RNA [12S]) in 98 head lice collected from an isolated Native American population from the Wayampi community in Trois-Sauts, French Guiana. These results are integrated with all prior data of P. humanus (1402 cytb, 743 cox1 and 344 12S) from other parts of the world. The phylogenetic analysis revealed six highly divergent and well-supported monophyletic clades. Five clades corresponded to the previously recognized mitochondrial clades A, D, B, C and E, while the sixth (clade F) was novel, as it exhibited 5.4\%, 3.7\% and 3.6\% divergence at cytb, cox1 and 12S, respectively, from its nearest neighbor clade B. Interestingly, the clade F has only been recovered in a few lice sequences from Mexico and Argentina, while it was the most common lineage in the Amazonian lice, which hints its association with the Native American region. Furthermore, Pediculus mjobergi, a New World monkeys\&$\#$39; louse, which is thought to be transmitted to monkeys from the first humans that had reached the American continent thousands of years ago, also belonged to this clade, suggesting that this louse may not be a separate species but an evolutionary lineage of P. humanus. The discovery of new Amazonian clade F with the recovery of additional haplotypes within each of the five clades demonstrates that the levels of genetic diversity in P. humanus are higher than previously thought.

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2019.02.006

Figure\  S1. (A)\  Cytb\  sequences\  alignment\  and\  (B)\  DNA\  sequence\  chromatograms\  of clade F haplotypes identified in this study showing the polymorphic sites.

Figure\  S2.\  (A)\  Cox1\  sequences\  alignment\  and\  (B)\  DNA\  sequence\  chromatograms\  of clade F haplotypes identified in this study showing the polymorphic sites.\ 

Figure S2.(A) 12S sequences alignment and (B) DNA sequence chromatograms of clade F haplotypes identified in this study showing the polymorphic sites.

Figure\  S4.\  (A)\  12S\  sequences\  alignment\  of\  clade\  F\  haplotypes\  and\  (B)\  12S\  DNA sequence chromatogram of P. mjobergi amplified in this study.

Figure\  S5.Maximum-likelihood\  (ML)\  analysis\  of Cytb\  (A), Cox1\  (B)\  and\  12S\  (C) haplotypes of Pediculushumanus. Bootstrap values (500 replicates) are shown above thebranches.\  The\  scale\  bar\  shows\  K2P\  distances.\  The\  node\  for\  each\  clade\  with\  multiple haplotypes is collapsed to a vertical triangle, with the horizontal depth indicating the level of intra-clade divergence. Bracketed numbers next to each clade\’s name indicate the number of haplotypes\  analyzed\  and\  the\  average\  intra-clade\  distance.\  Analyses\  were\  conducted\  in MEGA6.

Table\  S1.\  Additional\  louse\  specimens\  included\  in\  this\  study,\  obtained\  from\  the\  private\  frozen collection of world lice belonging to our laboratory.

Table\  S2.Pediculus\  mjobergi\  sequences\  from\  new\  world\  monkey\  (Alouatta\  caraya) included in this study. The cox1 and cytb P. mjobergi sequences analyzed in this study were those\  reported\  by\  Drali\  et\  al.\  (2016)\  collected\  from\  two\  monkey\  individuals\  B2188\  and B1395.\  The\  12S\  sequences\  were\  amplified\  in\  this\  study\  from\  three P.\  mjobergi\  specimens from monkey individual B2188.

Table S3. Geographic occurrences and frequencies of cytb haplotypes of human head and body lice.

Table\  S4.\  Geographic\  occurrences\  and\  frequencies\  ofcox1\  haplotypes\  of\  human\  head and body lice

Table S5. Geographic occurrences and frequencies of 12S haplotypes of human head 576 and body lice.

Table\  S6.\  Distribution of\  the\  head\  lice\  haplotypes identified\  in\  this\  study,\  according\  to mitochondrial genes, among the 22 infested Amazonian individuals.

}, keywords = {Amazonia, Clade F, Genetic diversity, phylogeography}, issn = {15671348}, doi = {10.1016/j.meegid.2019.02.006}, url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1567134818306750}, author = {Nadia Amanzougaghene and Florence Fenollar and Bernard Davoust and F{\'e}lix Djossou and Muhammad Ashfaq and BITAM, I. and Didier Raoult and Oleg Mediannikov} }