| Summary: | Bartonella infections have been documented in a wide range of mammals and 15 Bartonella species have been detected in small rodents. Several rodent-associated Bartonella species have been related to human diseases. However, there is a lack of studies on the presence and diversity of Bartonella pathogens in small rodents in Baltic region. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of Bartonella strains in different species of small rodents from Lithuania. We collected spleens from seven small rodent species captured in different parts of Lithuania during 2013-2016. The presence of Bartonella was examined by real-time PCR targeting the ssrA gene. Species identification and molecular characterization of bacteria strains were based on sequence analysis of two housekeeping genes (rpoB, groEL) and the intergenic species region. Bartonella DNA was detected with different prevalence in Apodemus flavicollis, Micromys minutus, Myodes glareolus, Microtus oeconomus, Microtus agrestis and Microtus arvalis rodents. Sequence analysis of Bartonella isolates showed that the Bartonella strains circulating among the investigated rodents are heterogenic and belonged to Bartonella grahamii, Bartonella taylorii and Bartonella rochalimae genogroup. Phylogenetic analysis based on each of the targets demonstrated the presence of different Bartonella grahamii and Bartonella taylorii strains associated with different species of rodents. This is the first report on molecular characterization of Bartonella strains in multiple rodent species from Baltic region. Our findings provide evidence of wide distribution of human pathogenic Bartonella grahamii in Lithuania Aplinkotyros katedra Biologijos katedra Gamtos mokslų fakultetas Gamtos tyrimų centras Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas
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