The hare syphilis agent is related to, but distinct from, the treponeme causing rabbit syphilis

• Published in: PLOS ONE
• Main Authors: Pospíšilová Petra, Čejková Darina, Buršíková Pavla, Fedrová Pavla, Mikalová Lenka, Najt David, Tom Nikola, Hisgen Linda, Lueert Simone, Lumeij Johannes T, Ågren Erik O, Knauf Sascha, Šmajs David
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE 2024
• Subjects: syphilis; Lepus timidus; mountain hare
• Online Access: https://is.muni.cz/publication/2423377; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0307196

Article Authors Metrics Comments Media Coverage Abstract Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion Conclusions Supporting information Acknowledgments References Reader Comments Figures Accessible Data IconAccessible Data See the data Link Icon This article includes the Accessible Data icon, an experimental feature to encourage data sharing and reuse. Find out how research articles qualify for this feature. Abstract The treponemes infecting lagomorphs include Treponema paraluisleporidarum ecovar Cuniculus (TPeC) and ecovar Lepus (TPeL), infecting rabbits and hares, respectively. In this study, we described the first complete genome sequence of TPeL, isolate V3603-13, from an infected mountain hare (Lepus timidus) in Sweden. In addition, we determined 99.0% of the genome sequence of isolate V246-08 (also from an infected mountain hare, Sweden) and 31.7% of the genome sequence of isolate Z27 A77/78 (from a European hare, Lepus europeaus, The Netherlands). The TPeL V3603-13 genome had considerable gene synteny with the TPeC Cuniculi A genome and with the human pathogen T. pallidum, which causes syphilis (ssp. pallidum, TPA), yaws (ssp. pertenue, TPE) and endemic syphilis (ssp. endemicum, TEN). Compared to the TPeC Cuniculi A genome, TPeL V3603-13 contained four insertions and 11 deletions longer than three nucleotides (ranging between 6 and2,932 nts). In addition, there were 25 additional indels, from one to three nucleotides long, altogether spanning 36 nts. The number of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) between TPeC Cuniculi A and TPeL V3603-13 were represented by 309 nucleotide differences. Major proteome coding differences between TPeL and TPeC were found in the tpr gene family, and (predicted) genes coding for outer membrane proteins, suggesting that these components are essential for host adaptation in lagomorph syphilis. The phylogeny revealed that the TPeL sample from the European brown hare was more distantly related to TPeC Cuniculi A than V3603-13 and V246-08.