Bartonella and the bacterial metagenome in rodents

The alpha proteobacterium Bartonella is an important pathogen of mammalian red blood cells transmitted by the bite of ectoparasitic arthropods. Ms Paziewska has shown that isolates of this pathogen from rodents recombine freely, and the objective of this fellowship is for her to visit the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo between October 2010 and May 2011 to analyse isolates of Bartonella from ectoparasitic arthropods to test whether they are similarly recombinant. Ms Paziewska will visit NHM O slo to take advantage of the new 'ancient DNA' laboratory which will provide specialist facilities for extraction of degraded bacterial and host DNA from arthropods; her visit will also act as a catalyst to develop existing collaborations with the bacteri al metagenome research group within the Centre for Ecology and Evolutionary Synthesis at Blindern. The visit will also cement the long-standing collaboration between Professor Harris (NHM) and the University of Warsaw, and allow continuation of their lon g-term collaborative studies of rodent parasite ecology.