The impact of genetic recombination on pathogenic Leptospira


Por: Mejía L, Prado B, Cárdenas P, Trueba G and González-Candelas F

Publicada: 1 ago 2022 Ahead of Print: 1 jun 2022
Resumen:
Leptospirosis is the most common zoonosis worldwide, and is increasingly common in poor urban communities, where there is inadequate sewage disposal and abundance of domestic and peridomestic animals. There are many risk factors associated with the disease, such as contaminated water exposure, close contact with animals, floods, recreational activities related to water, wet agriculture. The symptoms of leptospirosis are common to other infectious diseases and, if not treated, it can lead to meningitis, liver failure, kidney damage and death.Leptospirosis is caused by 38 pathogenic species of Leptospira, which are divided in almost 30 serogroups and more than 300 serovars. The serological classification (serogroups and serovars) is based on the expression of distinct lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antigens. These antigens are also associated to protective immunity; antibodies against a serovar protect from any member of the same serovar. Serologic and phylogenetic analyses are not congruent probably due to genetic recombination of LPS genes among different leptospiral species.To analyze the importance of recombination in leptospiral evolution, we performed a gene-by-gene tree topology comparison on closed genomes available in public databases at two levels: among core genomes of pathogenic species (34 recombinant among 1213 core genes), and among core genomes of L. interrogans isolates (178/798). We found that most recombinant genes code for proteins involved in translation, ribosomal structure and biogenesis, but also for cell wall, membrane and envelope biogenesis.Besides, our final results showed that half of LPS genes are recombinant (18/36). This is relevant because serovar classification and vaccine development are based on these epitopes. The frequent recombination of LPSassociated genes suggests that natural selection is promoting the survival of recombinant lineages. These results may help understanding the factors that make Leptospira a successful pathogen.

Filiaciones:
:
 Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador

 Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

 Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

Prado B:
 Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador

Cárdenas P:
 Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador

Trueba G:
 Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Quito, Ecuador

:
 Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

 Joint Research Unit "Infection and Public Health" FISABIO-University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

 CIBER (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red) in Epidemiology and Public Health, Valencia, Spain
ISSN: 15671348





INFECTION GENETICS AND EVOLUTION
Editorial
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, PO BOX 211, 1000 AE AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, Países Bajos
Tipo de documento: Article
Volumen: 102 Número:
Páginas: 105313-105313
WOS Id: 000829686600001
ID de PubMed: 35688386
imagen gold

FULL TEXT

imagen Published Version CC BY

MÉTRICAS