Multi-locus analysis of human infective Cryptosporidium species and subtypes using ten novel genetic loci

Bouzid, Maha, Tyler, Kevin M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0647-8158, Christen, Richard, Chalmers, Rachel M., Elwin, Kristin and Hunter, Paul R. (2010) Multi-locus analysis of human infective Cryptosporidium species and subtypes using ten novel genetic loci. BMC Microbiology, 10.

[thumbnail of K._Tyler_pub36.pdf]
Preview
PDF (K._Tyler_pub36.pdf) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (366kB) | Preview

Abstract

Background: Cryptosporidium is a protozoan parasite that causes diarrheal illness in a wide range of hosts including humans. Two species, C. parvum and C. hominis are of primary public health relevance. Genome sequences of these two species are available and show only 3-5% sequence divergence. We investigated this sequence variability, which could correspond either to sequence gaps in the published genome sequences or to the presence of species-specific genes. Comparative genomic tools were used to identify putative species-specific genes and a subset of these genes was tested by PCR in a collection of Cryptosporidium clinical isolates and reference strains. Results: The majority of the putative species-specific genes examined were in fact common to C. parvum and C. hominis. PCR product sequence analysis revealed interesting SNPs, the majority of which were species-specific. These genetic loci allowed us to construct a robust and multi-locus analysis. The Neighbour-Joining phylogenetic tree constructed clearly discriminated the previously described lineages of Cryptosporidium species and subtypes. Conclusions: Most of the genes identified as being species specific during bioinformatics in Cryptosporidium sp. are in fact present in multiple species and only appear species specific because of gaps in published genome sequences. Nevertheless SNPs may offer a promising approach to studying the taxonomy of closely related species of Cryptosporidia.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © Bouzid et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010 This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://​creativecommons.​org/​licenses/​by/​2.​0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords: base sequence,cryptosporidiosis,cryptosporidium,genetic loci,humans,molecular sequence data,phylogeny,protozoan proteins,sequence alignment,sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Gastroenterology and Gut Biology
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Metabolic Health
Depositing User: EPrints Services
Date Deposited: 25 Nov 2010 11:12
Last Modified: 19 Oct 2023 00:34
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/14988
DOI: 10.1186/1471-2180-10-213

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item