Genetic basis underlying the serological affinity of leptospiral serovars from serogroups Sejroe, Mini and Hebdomadis

Medeiros, Eliseu Jayro de Souza; Ferreira, Leonardo Cabral Afonso; Ortega, J.; Cosate, Maria Raquel Venturim; Sakamoto, Tetsu

doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2022.105345

Cited by 8 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…A serovar-specific genetic fingerprint such as the one we are now reporting shall be instrumental to shifting from serologic techniques to simpler and more accurate PCR-based serovar determination protocols. Considering the clinical impact that different Leptospira serovars exhibit, associated with distinct host adaptation and virulence phenotypes, such molecular genetic approaches have been attempted, but only at the level of serogroup ( Cai et al, 2010 ) or for some serovars ( Bezerra da Silva et al, 2011 ; Medeiros et al, 2022 ) suffering from considerable cross-detection among strains. As further and reliably complete rfb gene clusters from finished/closed genomes become available, more precise gene composition assessments among Leptospira serovars are expected to be made.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal transfer of therfbcluster inLeptospirais a genetic determinant of serovar identity

et al. 2022

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Leptospirabacteria comprise numerous species, several of which cause serious disease to a broad range of hosts including humans. These spirochetes exhibit large intraspecific variation, resulting in complex tabulations of serogroups/serovars that crisscross the species classification. Serovar identity, linked to biological/clinical phenotypes, depends on the structure of surface-exposed LPS. Many LPS biosynthesis–encoding genes reside within the chromosomicrfbgene cluster. However, the genetic basis of intraspecies variability is not fully understood, constraining diagnostics/typing methods to cumbersome serologic procedures. We now show that the gene content of therfbcluster strongly correlates withLeptospiraserovar designation. Whole-genome sequencing of pathogenicL. noguchii, including strains of different serogroups, reveals that therfbcluster undergoes extensive horizontal gene transfer. Therfbclusters from severalLeptospiraspecies disclose a univocal correspondence between gene composition and serovar identity. This work paves the way to genetic typing ofLeptospiraserovars, and to pinpointing specific genes within the distinctrfbclusters, encoding host-specific virulence traits. Further research shall unveil the molecular mechanism ofrfbtransfer amongLeptospirastrains and species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal transfer of therfbcluster inLeptospirais a genetic determinant of serovar identity

et al. 2022

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“…In these studies, it was observed that the genes of samples belonging to the same serological class but not to the same species shared high similarity when comparing the genes that comprise this locus. Other evidence of the association of this locus with serological classification was found in subsequent studies, such as the sharing of genes in this locus among samples of the Hurstbridge serovar of the L. fainei and L. broomi species 1 and the similarity of the gene profile among samples of the Sejroe, Hebdomadis, and Mini serogroups, which have antigenic affinity 4 . A study involving the main serogroups also verified the similarity of the gene profile of the rfb locus among samples classified in the same serogroup 12 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…The presence and conservedness of a gene were accessed by sequence similarity search using the BLAST algorithm (BlastP) 38 . The identity score between the query and subject proteins was calculated as the product of the percentage of identity and the query coverage of the first high-scoring segment pair (HSP) as performed by Medeiros 4 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The disease is widely distributed geographically and transmitted through direct or indirect exposure to the urine of infected animals, representing a major public health challenge in regions with heavy rainfall, floods, and poor socioeconomic conditions 1,2 . The causative agent of the disease is the pathogenic species of the genus Leptospira , a highly motile gram-negative bacterium thanks to its periplasmic flagella, and which is found in water and soil worldwide 3,4,5 . According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 6 , the disease is responsible for over one million cases annually worldwide and, since it is considered a neglected zoonosis 7 , the actual numbers are potentially even higher.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic structure and diversity ofrfblocus of pathogenic species of genusLeptospira

Ferreira

Filho

Cosate

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Considered a globally important zoonotic bacterial disease, leptospirosis affects both humans and commercially important animals. It is transmitted through direct or indirect exposure to the urine of infected animals and is a major public health challenge in regions with heavy rainfall, floods, and poor socioeconomic conditions. The genus Leptospira has 67 species, which can be grouped into pathogenic and saprophytic groups. Serological classification based on antigenic characteristics is important in epidemiology and clinical analysis but is laborious, requires infrastructure and specialized labor, and takes days to obtain results. In this study, we aimed to find genetic patterns associated with the serological classification of Leptospira to propose molecular markers for classifying Leptospira samples at the serogroup level. For this, we used genomic data of 722 samples distributed in 67 species in public databases and compared the gene composition of their rfb locus. Clustering analysis was able to group samples into five major classes that share similarities in both the serological and genetic composition of the rfb locus. We also identified some syntenic blocks in the internal region of the rfb locus and patterns of presence and absence of these blocks which can be used to determine the serogroup of a sample. Our findings can assist the development of molecular strategies for the serological identification of Leptospira samples, which could be more rapid and accurate than the current method.

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“…Data on the serological classification of each sample was obtained from PubMLST (https://pubmlst.org; Jolley & Maiden, 2010). For samples that did not present serological data, we used the serological classification suggested by Medeiros et al (2022), which is based on the gene profile of rfb locus.…”

Section: Data Sourcementioning

confidence: 99%

PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THErfbLOCUS GENES OF THE GENUSLeptospiraOF SEROGROUPS SERJOE, MINI AND HEBDOMADIS

Barros Setúbal,

de Santana Souza,

Venturim Cosate

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Leptospirosis is a zoonosis of great impact on public health since it is considered a notifiable disease occurring mainly in tropical regions with poor sanitation and vulnerable socioeconomic conditions. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira and phylum Spirochaetes and contamination occurs through direct or indirect contact with the contaminating agent. In addition to taxonomic classification, which is performed through sequencing and the analysis of some marker genes, such as 16S rRNA and secY, they are usually classified based on their antigenic characteristics into serogroups and serovars. This kind of classification is largely applied in epidemiological studies and vaccine development. Despite its importance, few studies have been conducted to understand the evolutionary dynamics of the emergence or change of serology in this genus. In view of this, we applied phylogenetic methods in order to understand the evolutionary processes involving the serology of the genus. To this end, sequences of genes comprising the rfb locus from samples of serogroups Sejroe, Mini, and Hebdomadis (34 samples) were extracted and submitted to the phylogenetic pipeline, resulting in the inference of 75 maximum likelihood trees. Topology tests showed that most of the gene trees are significantly different from the species tree. We could depict the occurrence of lateral gene transfer between L. borgpetersenii and L. kirschneri; and L. interrogans and L. weilli. In this analysis, no evidence was found for the lateral gene transfer between samples of the Hardjo serovar of L. interrogans and L. borgpetersenii. Thus, it is also suggested that the occurrence of horizontal transfer of genes from the rfb locus between distinct species is less frequent than expected.

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Genetic basis underlying the serological affinity of leptospiral serovars from serogroups Sejroe, Mini and Hebdomadis

Cited by 8 publications

References 44 publications

Horizontal transfer of therfbcluster inLeptospirais a genetic determinant of serovar identity

Horizontal transfer of therfbcluster inLeptospirais a genetic determinant of serovar identity

Genetic structure and diversity ofrfblocus of pathogenic species of genusLeptospira

PHYLOGENETIC ANALYSIS OF THErfbLOCUS GENES OF THE GENUSLeptospiraOF SEROGROUPS SERJOE, MINI AND HEBDOMADIS

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