Publication details
A Retrospective Study on Genetic Heterogeneity within Treponema Strains: Subpopulations Are Genetically Distinct in a Limited Number of Positions
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004110 |
| Field | Genetics and molecular biology |
| Keywords | PALLIDUM SUBSP PALLIDUM; COMPLETE GENOME SEQUENCE; BURROWS-WHEELER TRANSFORM; OUTER-MEMBRANE PROTEIN; ANTIGENIC VARIATION; ESCHERICHIA-COLI; MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS; SSP-PALLIDUM; TPRK GENE; SYPHILIS TREPONEMES |
| Description | BACKGROUND: Pathogenic uncultivable treponemes comprise human and animal pathogens including agents of syphilis, yaws, bejel, pinta, and venereal spirochetosis in rabbits and hares. A set of 10 treponemal genome sequences including those of 4 Treponema pallidum ssp. pallidum (TPA) strains (Nichols, DAL-1, Mexico A, SS14), 4 T. p. ssp. pertenue (TPE) strains (CDC-2, Gauthier, Samoa D, Fribourg-Blanc), 1 T. p. ssp. endemicum (TEN) strain (Bosnia A) and one strain (Cuniculi A) of Treponema paraluisleporidarum ecovar Cuniculus (TPLC) were examined with respect to the presence of nucleotide intrastrain heterogeneous sites. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The number of identified intrastrain heterogeneous sites in individual genomes ranged between 0 and 7. Altogether, 23 intrastrain heterogeneous sites (in 17 genes) were found in 5 out of 10 investigated treponemal genomes including TPA strains Nichols (n = 5), DAL-1 (n = 4), and SS14 (n = 7), TPE strain Samoa D (n = 1), and TEN strain Bosnia A (n = 5). Although only one heterogeneous site was identified among 4 tested TPE strains, 16 such sites were identified among 4 TPA strains. Heterogeneous sites were mostly strain-specific and were identified in four tpr genes (tprC, GI, I, K), in genes involved in bacterial motility and chemotaxis (fliI, cheC-fliY), in genes involved in cell structure (murC), translation (prfA), general and DNA metabolism (putative SAM dependent methyltransferase, topA), and in seven hypothetical genes. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Heterogeneous sites likely represent both the selection of adaptive changes during infection of the host as well as an ongoing diversifying evolutionary process. |
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