Comparative and functional genomics of the protozoan parasite Babesia divergens highlighting the invasion and egress processes

Babesiosis is considered an emerging disease because its incidence has significantly increased in the last 30 years, providing evidence of the expanding range of this rare but potentially life-threatening zoonotic disease. Babesia divergens is a causative agent of babesiosis in humans and cattle in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2019-08, Vol.13 (8), p.e0007680-e0007680
Main Authors: González, Luis Miguel, Estrada, Karel, Grande, Ricardo, Jiménez-Jacinto, Verónica, Vega-Alvarado, Leticia, Sevilla, Elena, Barrera, Jorge de la, Cuesta, Isabel, Zaballos, Ángel, Bautista, José Manuel, Lobo, Cheryl A, Sánchez-Flores, Alejandro, Montero, Estrella
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Assembly
Babesia - genetics
Babesia - growth & development
Babesia divergens
Babesiosis
Babesiosis - parasitology
Beef cattle
Bioinformatics
Biology and Life Sciences
Care and treatment
Cattle
Cattle Diseases - parasitology
Chromosomes
Computational Biology
Computer applications
Diagnostic systems
DNA
Drug development
Egress
Erythrocytes
Exploitation
Gene expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene sequencing
Genes
Genetic aspects
Genetic research
Genome, Protozoan
Genomes
Genomics
Humans
Identification
Infections
Invasive species
Life cycle analysis
Messenger RNA
Molecular modelling
Nucleic acids
Nucleotide sequence
Parasites
Parasitic diseases
Pathogenesis
Pathogens
PCR
Polymerase chain reaction
Protozoa
Quality
Red blood cells
Research and analysis methods
Reverse transcription
Risk factors
RNA
RNA sequencing
Software
Supervision
Transcription
Transcription (Genetics)
Tropical diseases
Vaccines
Zoonoses
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Description
Summary:Babesiosis is considered an emerging disease because its incidence has significantly increased in the last 30 years, providing evidence of the expanding range of this rare but potentially life-threatening zoonotic disease. Babesia divergens is a causative agent of babesiosis in humans and cattle in Europe. The recently sequenced genome of B. divergens revealed over 3,741 protein coding-genes and the 10.7-Mb high-quality draft become the first reference tool to study the genome structure of B. divergens. Now, by exploiting this sequence data and using new computational tools and assembly strategies, we have significantly improved the quality of the B. divergens genome. The new assembly shows better continuity and has a higher correspondence to B. bovis chromosomes. Moreover, we present a differential expression analysis using RNA sequencing of the two different stages of the asexual lifecycle of B. divergens: the free merozoite capable of invading erythrocytes and the intraerythrocytic parasite stage that remains within the erythrocyte until egress. Comparison of mRNA levels of both stages identified 1,441 differentially expressed genes. From these, around half were upregulated and the other half downregulated in the intraerythrocytic stage. Orthogonal validation by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR confirmed the differential expression. A moderately increased expression level of genes, putatively involved in the invasion and egress processes, were revealed in the intraerythrocytic stage compared with the free merozoite. On the basis of these results and in the absence of molecular models of invasion and egress for B. divergens, we have proposed the identified genes as putative molecular players in the invasion and egress processes. Our results contribute to an understanding of key parasitic strategies and pathogenesis and could be a valuable genomic resource to exploit for the design of diagnostic methods, drugs and vaccines to improve the control of babesiosis.
ISSN:1935-2735
1935-2727
1935-2735
DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007680