PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Elia Vajana
AU  - Ivo Widmer
AU  - Estelle Rochat
AU  - Solange Duruz
AU  - Oliver Selmoni
AU  - Séverine Vuilleumier
AU  - Sébastien Aeby
AU  - Gilbert Greub
AU  - Stéphane Joost
TI  - Indication of spatially random infection of chlamydia-like organisms in <em>Bufo bufo</em> tadpoles from ponds located in the Geneva metropolitan area
AID  - 10.1101/402487
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 402487
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/29/402487.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/08/29/402487.full
AB  - Occurrence of bacteria belonging to the order Chlamydiales was investigated for the first time in common toad (Bufo bufo) tadpole populations collected from 41 ponds in the Geneva metropolitan area, Switzerland. A Chlamydiales-specific Real-Time PCR was used to detect and amplify the Chlamydiales 16S rRNA-encoding gene from the tails of 375 tadpoles. We found the studied amphibian populations to be infected by “Chlamydia-like organisms” (CLOs) attributable to the genera Similichlamydia, Neochlamydia, Protochlamydia and Parachlamydia (belonging to the family Parachlamydiaceae), Simkania (family Simkaniaceae) and Estrella (family Criblamydiaceae); additionally, DNA from the genus Thermoanaerobacter (family Thermoanaerobacteriaceae) was detected. A global autocorrelation analysis did not reveal a spatial structure in the observed CLOs infection rates, and association tests involving land cover characteristics did not evidence any clear effect on CLOs infection rates in B. bufo. Despite preliminary, these results suggest a random and ubiquitous distribution of CLOs in the environment, which would support the biogeographical expectation “everything is everywhere” for the concerned microorganisms and their amoeba vectors.