The authors are grateful to Dr. Débora Andrade-Silva (The University of Texas – Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA) for her critical revision and valuable suggestions to improve the manuscript’s quality, and Dr. Marija Krasilnikova (University of Glasgow, School of Infection and Immunity, Glasgow, UK) for her help with WGS analysis. We also acknowledge Marcelo Nunes Silva for his immeasurable help in the preparation of reagents/solutions and laboratory organization. Finally, we would like to thank Professors Maria Isabel N. Cano (São Paulo State University, Botucatu, Brazil), Bianca S. Zingales (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), Mauricio da Silva Baptista (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil), and Alexander Henning Ulrich (University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil) for sharing their equipment, which were of paramount importance for the development of this work.
