Analysis of the mitochondrial maxicircle of Trypanosoma lewisi, a neglected human pathogen

Lin, R; Lai, D; Zheng, L; Wu, J; Lukeš, J; Hide, G; Lun, Z

Abstract

BACKGROUND

The haemoflagellate Trypanosoma lewisi is a kinetoplastid parasite which, as it has been recently reported to cause human disease, deserves increased attention. Characteristic features of all kinetoplastid flagellates are a uniquely structured mitochondrial DNA or kinetoplast, comprised of a network of catenated DNA circles, and RNA editing of mitochondrial transcripts. The aim of this study was to describe the kinetoplast DNA of T. lewisi.

METHODS/RESULTS

In this study, purified kinetoplast DNA from T. lewisi was sequenced using high-throughput sequencing in combination with sequencing of PCR amplicons. This allowed the assembly of the T. lewisi kinetoplast maxicircle DNA, which is a homologue of the mitochondrial genome in other eukaryotes. The assembly of 23,745 bp comprises the non-coding and coding regions. Comparative analysis of the maxicircle sequence of T. lewisi with Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma rangeli, Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania tarentolae revealed that it shares 78 %, 77 %, 74 % and 66 % sequence identity with these parasites, respectively. The high GC content in at least 9 maxicircle genes of T. lewisi (ATPase6; NADH dehydrogenase subunits ND3, ND7, ND8 and ND9; G-rich regions GR3 and GR4; cytochrome oxidase subunit COIII and ribosomal protein RPS12) implies that their products may be extensively edited. A detailed analysis of the non-coding region revealed that it contains numerous repeat motifs and palindromes.

CONCLUSIONS

We have sequenced and comprehensively annotated the kinetoplast maxicircle of T. lewisi. Our analysis reveals that T. lewisi is closely related to T. cruzi and T. brucei, and may share similar RNA editing patterns with them rather than with L. tarentolae. These findings provide novel insight into the biological features of this emerging human pathogen.

Citation

Lin, R., Lai, D., Zheng, L., Wu, J., Lukeš, J., Hide, G., & Lun, Z. (2015). Analysis of the mitochondrial maxicircle of Trypanosoma lewisi, a neglected human pathogen. Parasites and Vectors, 8(1), 665. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-1281-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 30, 2015
• Publication Date: Dec 30, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jan 4, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 5, 2016
• Journal: Parasites and Vectors
• Electronic ISSN: 1756-3305
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 665
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-1281-8
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-015-1281-8
• Related Public URLs: http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/8/1/665
• Additional Information: Funders : National Natural Science Foundation of China Grants;Guangzhou Science Technology and Innovation Commission;Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province; Projects : Analysis of the mitochondrial maxicircle of Trypanosoma lewisi, a neglected human pathogen.; Grant Number: 31472058, 31402029 and 31401975; Grant Number: 201506010011; Grant Number: 2014A030313164 and 2015A030311042