Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33444855›Full record

ArticleInfection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases2021

Bats are key hosts in the radiation of mammal-associated Bartonella bacteria.

Clifton D McKee, Ying Bai, Colleen T Webb, Michael Y Kosoy

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed
5.7field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.

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  6. Host-Driven Genetic Diversity ofTransboundary and emerging diseases · 2026
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  7. Microbial network assembly in bat flies with differing host specificity from North Africa.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2025
    Article
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  11. Molecular Detection and Isolation ofTransboundary and emerging diseases · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Clifton D McKeeGraduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, 1021 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, 1878 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. Electronic address: clifton.mckee@gmail.com.
Ying BaiBacterial Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3156 Rampart Road, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA.
Colleen T WebbGraduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, 1021 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA; Department of Biology, Colorado State University, 1878 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
Michael Y KosoyKB One Health, LLC, 3244 Reedgrass Court, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · USColorado State University · USJohns Hopkins University · US

Funding

Intramural CDC HHS CC999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Bats are notorious reservoirs of several zoonotic diseases and may be uniquely tolerant of infection among mammals. Broad sampling has revealed the importance of bats in the diversification and spread of viruses and eukaryotes to other animal hosts. Vector-borne bacteria of the genus Bartonella are prevalent and diverse in mammals globally and recent surveys have revealed numerous Bartonella lineages in bats. We assembled a sequence database of Bartonella strains, consisting of nine genetic loci from 209 previously characterized Bartonella lineages and 121 new cultured isolates from bats, and used these data to perform a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the Bartonella genus. This analysis included estimation of divergence dates using a molecular clock and ancestral reconstruction of host associations and geography. We estimate that Bartonella began infecting mammals 62 million years ago near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Additionally, the radiation of particular Bartonella clades correlate strongly to the timing of diversification and biogeography of mammalian hosts. Bats were inferred to be the ancestral hosts of all mammal-associated Bartonella and appear to be responsible for the early geographic expansion of the genus. We conclude that bats have had a deep influence on the evolutionary radiation of Bartonella bacteria and their spread to other mammalian orders. These results support a 'bat seeding' hypothesis that could explain similar evolutionary patterns in other mammalian parasite taxa. Application of such phylogenetic tools as we have used to other taxa may reveal the general importance of bats in the ancient diversification of mammalian parasites.

Indexed as

AnimalsBartonellaBartonella InfectionsChiropteraPhylogenyStochastic ProcessesBartonellaChiropteraMolecular clockMolecular phylogenyParasite dispersalVector-borne infection

Identifiers

PMID33444855
PMCPMC10915969
OpenAlexW3120541597

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.