The glycoprotein TRP36 of Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV and related cattle pathogen Ehrlichia sp. UFMT-BV evolved from a highly variable clade of E. canis under adaptive diversifying selection

BACKGROUND: A new species of Ehrlichia, phylogenetically distant from E. ruminantium, was found in 2010 infecting cattle in Canada. In 2012 and 2013, we reported the in vitro propagation, molecular and ultrastructural characterization of Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV (E. mineirensis), a new species of Ehrlichia isolated from the haemolymph of Brazilian Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus ticks. A new organism, named Ehrlichia sp. UFMT-BV, closely related to Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV, was recently described in Brazil and after experimental infection it was shown to be pathogenic for cattle. This new emerging clade of cattle Ehrlichia pathogens is closely related to E. canis. The major immunogenic Tandem Repeat Protein (TRP36; also known as gp36) is extensively used to characterize the genetic diversity of E. canis. Homologs of TRP36 were found in both Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV and Ehrlichia sp. UFMT-BV. FINDINGS: Herein, we characterized the evolution of this new Ehrlichia clade using TRP36 sequences. Our working hypothesis is that Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV and related microorganisms evolved from a highly variable E. canis clade. In support of our hypothesis we found that Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV and Ehrlichia sp. UFMT-BV TRP36 evolved from a highly divergent and variable clade within E. canis and this clade evolved under episodic diversifying selection with a high proportion of sites under positive selection. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that Ehrlichia sp. UFMG-EV and Ehrlichia sp. UFMT-BV evolved from a variable clade within E. canis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-014-0584-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.