Genomes of the human filarial parasitesMansonella perstansandMansonella ozzardi

Abstract

The filarial parasitesMansonella ozzardiandMansonella perstans, causative agents of mansonellosis, infect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, yet remain among the most understudied of the human filarial pathogens.M. ozzardiis highly prevalent in Latin American countries and Caribbean Islands, whileM. perstansis predominantly found in sub-Saharan Africa as well in a few areas in South America. In addition to the differences in their geographical distribution, the two parasites are transmitted by different insect vectors, as well as exhibit differences in their responses to commonly used anthelminthic drugs. The lack of genome information has hindered investigations into the biology and evolution of Mansonella parasites and understanding the molecular basis of the clinical differences between species. In the current study, high quality genomes of two independent clinical isolates ofM. perstansfrom Cameroon and twoM. ozzardiisolates one from Brazil and one from Venezuela are reported. The genomes are approximately 76 Mb in size, encode about 10,000 genes each, and are largely complete based on BUSCO scores of about 90%, similar to other completed filarial genomes. These sequences represent the first genomes from Mansonella parasites and enabled a comparative genomic analysis of the similarities and differences between Mansonella and other filarial parasites. Horizontal DNA transfers (HDT) from mitochondria (nuMTs) as well as transfers from genomes of endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria (nuWTs) to the host nuclear genome were identified and analyzed. Sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analysis of known targets of anti-filarial drugs diethylcarbamazine (DEC), ivermectin and mebendazole revealed thatM. ozzardilacks an ortholog ofgon-2, a target for DEC, whileM. perstanslacks an ortholog ofavr-14, a target of ivermectin. These new reference genome sequences will provide a valuable resource for further studies on biology, symbiosis, evolution and drug discovery.

Identification and characterisationof Mansonella perstansin the Volta Region of Ghana

“…While the identification of M. perstans in this study was conducted based on the ITS-1, a newer method based on the M. perstans Repeat 1 ( Mp R1) has been developed (8). The recent publication of the M. perstans genome (32) will also help further studies and understanding of this very neglected parasite.…”

Multiple Lineages of Nematode-Wolbachia Symbiosis in Supergroup F and Convergent Loss of Bacterioferritin in Filarial Wolbachia

“…The protein coding genes of different Wolbachia hosts were obtained as follows. The genomes and proteomes for filarial nematodes M. perstans , M. ozzardi were recently described ( Sinha et al 2023 ). Curated proteomes from publicly available data for the filarial hosts B. malayi , B. pahangi , Wuchereria bancrofti , Dirofilaria immitis , On.…”

Multiple origins of nematode-Wolbachiasymbiosis in supergroup F and convergent loss of bacterioferritin in filarialWolbachia

“…The genomes and proteomes for filarial nematodes Mansonella perstans , Mansonella ozzardi were recently described (Sinha et al 2023). Curated proteomes from publicly available data for the filarial hosts Brugia malayi , Brugia pahangi , Wuchereria bancrofti , Dirofilaria immitis , Onchocerca ochengi , Onchocerca volvulus , Litomosoides sigmodontis , Litomosoides brasiliensis , Dipetalonema caudispina , Cruorifilaria tuberocauda were the same as recently (Sinha et al 2023). The genome sequence of Osmia caerulescens was obtained from the metagenomic assembly and blobplot analysis for w Ocae described above.…”