Isolation and identification of pathogenic free-living amoeba from surface and tap water of Shiraz City using morphological and molecular methods

Armand, Belal; Motazedian, MH; Asgari, Qasem

doi:10.1007/s00436-015-4721-7

Cited by 36 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In this survey, based on the morphological assessment, about half of the water samples were identified as the Acanthamoeba spp. Also, all of the positive samples were reconfirmed by the molecular method as Acanthamoeba spp, the obtained results in the present study give further evidence of the presence of Acanthamoeba spp in the surface waters exist in Iran which is in accordance with other investigations worldwide [6,15,17,22,[41][42][43].…”

Section: The Molecular Identificationsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…There are a few reports available regarding the presence of Acanthamoeba spp in different water sources in Iran [12,13,15,22,24,40]. The results of previous studies in Iran showed that an increasing rate, in addition to being in the Acanthodea keratitis, was also in an undistinguished encephalitis in the immunocompromised patients [5,19,20,22]. Accordingly, the isolation and identification of Acanthamoeba spp in water sources may play an important role in the prevention and control of the above mentioned serious problems.…”

Section: The Molecular Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The studies have demonstrated that the aquatic environments are among the most important sources for the transmission of Acanthamoeba spp to human's body [7,13,21]. The occurrence of the Acanthamoeba genus in aquatic sources has been determined in different parts of Iran [13,17,[22][23][24][25], but there is no information from Zanjan province. The present study was designed to detect the presence of Acanthamoeba genus in Zanjan province, northwest of Iran in the surface waters using a combined culture assay and the PCR method.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Acanthamoeba spp. in Water Sources from Zanjan Province, Northwest of Iran

Pezeshki

Kadkhodamohammadi

Mahmmodzadeh

et al. 2017

J. Hum. Environ. Health Promot.

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Acanthamoeba has two developmental stages in its life cycle trophozoite and cyst, [5]. The trophozoite, is an active form, which the genus of Acanthamoeba is able to feed, grow, move and reproduce, and the cyst, is a non-active form. The double-layered coat cyst of this amoeba is resistant to disinfectants, antibiotics, UV radiation, and the chemical agents. Furthermore, it can survive as Journal of Human, Environment and Health Promotion Journal homepage: www.zums.ac.ir/jhehp Background: The genus of Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic protozoan parasite with a worldwide distribution where it is able to cause fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE) and amoebic keratitis (AK). This organism inhabits in the wide range of natural and man-made aquatic environments. The present study was carried out to evaluate the presence of Acanthamoeba spp. in the various water resources of Zanjan province, northwest Iran, using both morphological and molecular methods. Methods: The Water samples were randomly collected from 30 water sources in different parts of Zanjan, Iran, between April 2015 and May 2016. Then, the samples were cultured on non-nutrient agar and the Acanthamoeba genus identified by morphological characters. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using the 18S rRNA gene as a molecular marker. Results: The obtained data showed that, out of the 60 water samples collected, 30 (50%) were positive for Acanthamoeba spp. According to morphological and molecular approaches. Conclusion: The present investigation is the first report of the distribution of Acanthamoeba spp. in the various water sources of Zanjan province, gives baseline knowledge regarding water contamination with Acanthamoeba spp. in these areas and emphasizes the necessity of more attention to water sources in order to prevent infections associated with Acanthamoeba spp.

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Section: The Molecular Identificationsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: The Molecular Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Acanthamoeba spp. in Water Sources from Zanjan Province, Northwest of Iran

Pezeshki

Kadkhodamohammadi

Mahmmodzadeh

et al. 2017

J. Hum. Environ. Health Promot.

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“…Vermamoeba vermiformis is one of the most common FLA to have been isolated from different water systems (Rhoads et al 2015;Montalbano Di Filippo et al 2015;Lu et al 2015;Armand et al 2016). It is also frequently recovered from hospital water networks as shown by several authors (Rohr et al 1998;Thomas et al 2006;Ovrutsky et al 2013;Pagnier et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vermamoeba vermiformis-Aspergillus fumigatus relationships and comparison with other phagocytic cells

et al. 2016

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Free living amoebae (FLA) are protists ubiquitously present in the environment. Aspergillus fumigatus is a mould responsible for severe deep-seated infections, and that can be recovered in the same habitats as the FLA. By conducting coculture experiments and fungal incubation with amoebal supernatants, we report herein that Vermamoeba vermiformis, a FLA present in hospital water systems, promotes filamentation and growth of A. fumigatus. This finding is of particular importance to institutions whose water systems might harbor FLA and could potentially be used by immunocompromised patients. Also, the relationships between V. vermiformis and A. fumigatus were compared to those between this fungus and two other phagocytic cells: Acanthamoeba castellanii, another FLA, and macrophage-like THP-1 cells. After 4 h of coincubation, the percentages of the three phagocytic cell types with adhered conidia were similar, even though the types of receptors between FLA and macrophagic cell seemed different. However, the percentage of THP-1 with internalized conidia was considerably lower (40 %) in comparison with the two other cell types (100 %). Thus, this study revealed that interactions between A. fumigatus and these three phagocytic cell types show similarities, even though it is premature to extrapolate these results to interpret relationships between A. fumigatus and macrophages.

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“…The proportion of putative genes with a size equal to or greater than 100 amino acids (aa) was estimated to be 90.3% (20,299 genes). Out of all the predicted genes, 67.9% (15,266) were non-ORFan genes and 32.1% (7,217) were ORFans (i.e. they have no homologs in the NCBI GenBank protein sequence database (nr)) ( Table 1).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Vermamoeba vermiformis CDC-19 draft genome sequence reveals considerable gene trafficking including with candidate phyla radiation and giant viruses

Chelkha

Hasni

Louazani

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Vermamoeba vermiformis is a predominant free-living amoeba in human environments and amongst the most common amoebae that can cause severe infections in humans. it is a niche for numerous amoeba-resisting microorganisms such as bacteria and giant viruses. Differences in the susceptibility to these giant viruses have been observed. V. vermiformis and amoeba-resisting microorganisms share a sympatric lifestyle that can promote exchanges of genetic material. This work analyzed the first draft genome sequence of a V. vermiformis strain (CDC-19) through comparative genomic, transcriptomic and phylogenetic analyses. the genome of V. vermiformis is 59.5 megabase pairs in size, and 22,483 genes were predicted. A high proportion (10% (n = 2,295)) of putative genes encoded proteins showed the highest sequence homology with a bacterial sequence. the expression of these genes was demonstrated for some bacterial homologous genes. In addition, for 30 genes, we detected best BLAST hits with members of the Candidate Phyla Radiation. Moreover, 185 genes (0.8%) best matched with giant viruses, mostly those related to the subfamily Klosneuvirinae (101 genes), in particular Bodo saltans virus (69 genes). Lateral sequence transfers between V. vermiformis and amoeba-resisting microorganisms were strengthened by Sanger sequencing, transcriptomic and phylogenetic analyses. This work provides important insights and genetic data for further studies about this amoeba and its interactions with microorganisms. Amoebozoa species are widely distributed in different environments from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems, where they can play important ecological roles 1,2. Members of the family Hartmannellidae are frequently detected along with a few other amoebae belonging to different genera of the taxon Amoebozoa 3. Vermamoeba vermiformis, a free-living amoeba of the family Hartmannellidae, formerly named Hartmannella vermiformis, was first isolated in freshwater from the Pigeon Lake, Wisconsin, and the Kankakee River, Indiana (United States) 4. V. vermiformis was thereafter commonly found in fresh surface water 5 , and also in tap water, bottled mineral water, thermal water, and recreational water environments such as fountains and swimming pools 6-8. Its density in drinking water sources and biofilms is higher than that of Acanthamoeba castellanii 9. V. vermiformis has two-stage life, switching between trophozoite and cystic form 3. Free-living amoebae (FLA) are commonly in contact with animals including humans. V. vermiformis was found to be the predominant amoeba in human environments 10,11 , and has been isolated more frequently from different hospital water systems than Acanthamoeba spp. 12. This amoeba is of special interest for human health as it is able, along with other Amoebozoa members including Acanthamoeba spp., to cause severe infections such as human keratitis 13-15. Despite its prevalence in human environments and its pathogenicity in humans, the genome of V. vermiformis had not been sequenced.

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Isolation and identification of pathogenic free-living amoeba from surface and tap water of Shiraz City using morphological and molecular methods

Cited by 36 publications

References 30 publications

The Acanthamoeba spp. in Water Sources from Zanjan Province, Northwest of Iran

The Acanthamoeba spp. in Water Sources from Zanjan Province, Northwest of Iran

Vermamoeba vermiformis-Aspergillus fumigatus relationships and comparison with other phagocytic cells

Vermamoeba vermiformis CDC-19 draft genome sequence reveals considerable gene trafficking including with candidate phyla radiation and giant viruses

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