High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi.
Orientia tsutsugamushi is an intracellular alpha-proteobacterium which resides in trombiculid mites, and is the causative agent of scrub typhus in East Asia. The genome sequence of this species has revealed an unprecedented number of repeat sequences, most notably of the genes encoding the conjugati...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:7df5130e9c3f4d30b8bcffa6dc5a6daf 2023-05-15T15:12:45+02:00 High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. Piengchan Sonthayanon Sharon J Peacock Wirongrong Chierakul Vanaporn Wuthiekanun Stuart D Blacksell Mathew T G Holden Stephen D Bentley Edward J Feil Nicholas P J Day 2010-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000752 https://doaj.org/article/7df5130e9c3f4d30b8bcffa6dc5a6daf EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2907413?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000752 https://doaj.org/article/7df5130e9c3f4d30b8bcffa6dc5a6daf PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 4, Iss 7, p e752 (2010) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2010 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000752 2022-12-31T11:42:42Z Orientia tsutsugamushi is an intracellular alpha-proteobacterium which resides in trombiculid mites, and is the causative agent of scrub typhus in East Asia. The genome sequence of this species has revealed an unprecedented number of repeat sequences, most notably of the genes encoding the conjugative properties of a type IV secretion system (T4SS). Although this observation is consistent with frequent intragenomic recombination, the extent of homologous recombination (gene conversion) in this species is unknown. To address this question, and to provide a protocol for the epidemiological surveillance of this important pathogen, we have developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme based on 7 housekeeping genes (gpsA, mdh, nrdB, nuoF, ppdK, sucD, sucB). We applied this scheme to the two published genomes, and to DNA extracted from blood taken from 84 Thai scrub typhus patients, from 20 cultured Thai patient isolates, 1 Australian patient sample, and from 3 cultured type strains. These data demonstrated that the O. tsutsugamushi population was both highly diverse [Simpson's index (95% CI) = 0.95 (0.92-0.98)], and highly recombinogenic. These results are surprising given the intracellular life-style of this species, but are broadly consistent with results obtained for Wolbachia, which is an alpha-proteobacterial reproductive parasite of arthropods. We also compared the MLST data with ompA sequence data and noted low levels of consistency and much higher discrimination by MLST. Finally, twenty-five percent of patients in this study were simultaneously infected with multiple sequence types, suggesting multiple infection caused by either multiple mite bites, or multiple strains co-existing within individual mites. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Mite Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 4 7 e752 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Piengchan Sonthayanon Sharon J Peacock Wirongrong Chierakul Vanaporn Wuthiekanun Stuart D Blacksell Mathew T G Holden Stephen D Bentley Edward J Feil Nicholas P J Day High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Orientia tsutsugamushi is an intracellular alpha-proteobacterium which resides in trombiculid mites, and is the causative agent of scrub typhus in East Asia. The genome sequence of this species has revealed an unprecedented number of repeat sequences, most notably of the genes encoding the conjugative properties of a type IV secretion system (T4SS). Although this observation is consistent with frequent intragenomic recombination, the extent of homologous recombination (gene conversion) in this species is unknown. To address this question, and to provide a protocol for the epidemiological surveillance of this important pathogen, we have developed a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme based on 7 housekeeping genes (gpsA, mdh, nrdB, nuoF, ppdK, sucD, sucB). We applied this scheme to the two published genomes, and to DNA extracted from blood taken from 84 Thai scrub typhus patients, from 20 cultured Thai patient isolates, 1 Australian patient sample, and from 3 cultured type strains. These data demonstrated that the O. tsutsugamushi population was both highly diverse [Simpson's index (95% CI) = 0.95 (0.92-0.98)], and highly recombinogenic. These results are surprising given the intracellular life-style of this species, but are broadly consistent with results obtained for Wolbachia, which is an alpha-proteobacterial reproductive parasite of arthropods. We also compared the MLST data with ompA sequence data and noted low levels of consistency and much higher discrimination by MLST. Finally, twenty-five percent of patients in this study were simultaneously infected with multiple sequence types, suggesting multiple infection caused by either multiple mite bites, or multiple strains co-existing within individual mites. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Piengchan Sonthayanon Sharon J Peacock Wirongrong Chierakul Vanaporn Wuthiekanun Stuart D Blacksell Mathew T G Holden Stephen D Bentley Edward J Feil Nicholas P J Day |
author_facet |
Piengchan Sonthayanon Sharon J Peacock Wirongrong Chierakul Vanaporn Wuthiekanun Stuart D Blacksell Mathew T G Holden Stephen D Bentley Edward J Feil Nicholas P J Day |
author_sort |
Piengchan Sonthayanon |
title |
High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. |
title_short |
High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. |
title_full |
High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. |
title_fullStr |
High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. |
title_full_unstemmed |
High rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen Orientia tsutsugamushi. |
title_sort |
high rates of homologous recombination in the mite endosymbiont and opportunistic human pathogen orientia tsutsugamushi. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000752 https://doaj.org/article/7df5130e9c3f4d30b8bcffa6dc5a6daf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Mite |
genre_facet |
Arctic Mite |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 4, Iss 7, p e752 (2010) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2907413?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000752 https://doaj.org/article/7df5130e9c3f4d30b8bcffa6dc5a6daf |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000752 |
container_title |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
e752 |
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1766343390013685760 |