Prospecting for Zoonotic Pathogens by Using Targeted DNA Enrichment

Area of Science:

• Pathogen discovery
• Molecular biology
• Museum science

Background:

• Zoonotic diseases linked to small mammals pose significant public health risks.
• Museum collections contain millions of archived tissues crucial for understanding pathogen natural history.
• Existing methods may not fully leverage the potential of these invaluable collections.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the utility of museum-archived tissues for pathogen-based research.
• To develop and validate a targeted sequence capture method for pathogen identification.

Main Methods:

• Designed a probe panel with 39,916 RNA probes targeting 32 pathogen groups (bacteria, helminths, fungi, protozoans).
• Applied targeted sequence capture to pathogen DNA from museum-archived samples.
• Utilized laboratory-generated, mock-control samples to assess enrichment efficiency.

Main Results:

• Achieved pathogen DNA enrichment ranging from 2,882-fold to 6,746-fold in mock samples.
• Successfully identified bacterial species, including Bartonella, a known zoonotic pathogen, in museum-archived tissues.
• Demonstrated the method's effectiveness in recovering targeted pathogen DNA.

Conclusions:

• Probe-based enrichment is a highly customizable and efficient method for pathogen identification.
• Museum collections can be effectively utilized for pathogen discovery using advanced molecular techniques.
• This approach significantly increases the value of historical biological samples for public health research.