Abstract
Leishmaniasis is a debilitating infectious disease that has a variety of clinical forms. In China, visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is the most common symptom, and L. donovani and/or L. infantum are the likely pathogens. In this study, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of five enzyme-coding genes (fh, g6pdh, icd, mpi, pgd) and two conserved genes (hsp70, lack) was used to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of Chinese Leishmania strains. Concatenated alignment of the nucleotide sequences of the seven genes was analyzed and phylogenetic trees were constructed using neighbor-joining and maximum parsimony models. A set of additional sequences from 25 strains (24 strains belong to the L. donovani complex and one strain belongs to L. gerbilli) were retrieved from GenBank to infer the molecular evolutionary history of Leishmania from China and other endemic areas worldwide. Phylogenetic analyses consolidated Chinese Leishmania into four groups: (i) one clade A population comprised 13 isolates from different foci in China, which were pathogenic to humans and canines. This population was subdivided into two subclades, clade A1 and clade A2, which comprised sister organisms to the remaining members of the worldwide L. donovani complex; (ii) a population in clade B consisted of one reference strain of L. turanica and five Chinese strains from Xinjiang; (iii) clade C (SELF-7 and EJNI-154) formed a population that was closely related to clade B, and both isolates were identified as L. gerbilli; and (iv) the final group, clade D, included Sauroleishmania (LIZRD and KXG-E) and was distinct from the other strains. We hypothesize that the phylogeny of Chinese Leishmania is associated with the geographical origins rather than with the clinical forms (VL or CL) of leishmaniasis. To conclude, this study provides further molecular information on Chinese Leishmania isolates and the Chinese isolates appear to have a more complex evolutionary history than previously thought.
Highlights
Leishmaniasis, a geographically widespread disease, is caused by infection with protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania
The clinical forms are grouped into localized skin lesions of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), destructive metastatic nasopharyngeal lesions of mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL), and progressive systemic visceral leishmaniasis (VL), which is fatal if left untreated [1]
We investigated the phylogenetic relationships between Chinese Leishmania isolates in conjunction with isolates from other geographical regions
Summary
Leishmaniasis, a geographically widespread disease, is caused by infection with protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. Leishmania-HIV coinfection has been described as an emerging disease [3]. Leishmaniasis is found in China, especially in the west frontier regions [4,5,6]. A national control program has largely brought the disease under control in eastern China, while leishmaniasis is considered to be endemic or with sporadic outbreaks in western China, including Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Gansu, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia [9,10]. In 2008–2009, following an outbreak of the desert subtype of zoonotic VL, the number of infant VL infections dramatically increased in Jiashi County, Xinjiang [11]
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