Abstract
The scabies mite, Sarcoptes scabiei, is an obligate parasite of the skin that infects humans and other animal species, causing scabies, a contagious disease characterized by extreme itching. Scabies infections are a major health problem, particularly in remote Indigenous communities in Australia, where co-infection of epidermal scabies lesions by Group A Streptococci or Staphylococcus aureus is thought to be responsible for the high rate of rheumatic heart disease and chronic kidney disease. We collected and separately sequenced mite DNA from several pools of thousands of whole mites from a porcine model of scabies (S. scabiei var. suis) and two human patients (S. scabiei var. hominis) living in different regions of northern Australia. Our sequencing samples the mite and its metagenome, including the mite gut flora and the wound micro-environment. Here, we describe the mitochondrial genome of the scabies mite. We developed a new de novo assembly pipeline based on a bait-and-reassemble strategy, which produced a 14 kilobase mitochondrial genome sequence assembly. We also annotated 35 genes and have compared these to other Acari mites. We identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and used these to infer the presence of six haplogroups in our samples, Remarkably, these fall into two closely-related clades with one clade including both human and pig varieties. This supports earlier findings that only limited genetic differences may separate some human and animal varieties, and raises the possibility of cross-host infections. Finally, we used these mitochondrial haplotypes to show that the genetic diversity of individual infections is typically small with 1–3 distinct haplotypes per infestation.
Highlights
The scabies mite is an ectoparasitic arachnid that causes an itchy skin infection, known as scabies
To the best of our knowledge, these findings provide the first view of the genetic diversity of individual scabies infestations based on whole mitochondrial genome sequences
Our results substantially extend the limited case studies and simulations used to validate MITObim and demonstrate that the general approach of mitochondrial genome bait-andassembly works on real examples that are highly complex metagenomic mixtures involving both genetic heterogeneity and host/bacterial contamination
Summary
The scabies mite is an ectoparasitic arachnid that causes an itchy skin infection, known as scabies. Scabies is responsible for a significant disease burden in affected populations through its obligate parasitic lifecycle, which facilitates secondary infections by other pathogens. A severe, but more rare form of scabies, known as crusted scabies, is characterised by hyper-infestation. It generally occurs in immune-compromised individuals [2], it can occur in patients with no overt immunological deficiency [3]. The mite infects more than a hundred species of mammals, creating an animal welfare and economic burden in primary industry [5,6,7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
