An apparent Acanthamoeba genotype is the product of a chimeric 18S rDNA artifact

Free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are potentially pathogenic protozoa widespread in the environment. The detection/diagnosis as well as environmental survey strategies is mainly based on the identification of the 18S rDNA sequences of the strains that allow the recovery of various distin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology research (1987) 2018-02, Vol.117 (2), p.571-577
Main Authors: Corsaro, Daniele, Venditti, Danielle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acanthamoeba
Acanthamoeba - classification
Acanthamoeba - genetics
Acanthamoeba - isolation & purification
Amoeba
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Chimera - classification
Chimera - genetics
Chimeras
DNA sequencing
DNA, Protozoan - genetics
DNA, Ribosomal - genetics
Genetic aspects
Genotype
Genotype & phenotype
Genotypes
Health aspects
Immunology
Medical Microbiology
Methods
Microbiology
Phylogeny
Protozoa
Protozoans
RNA, Ribosomal, 18S - genetics
Short Communication
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Summary:Free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are potentially pathogenic protozoa widespread in the environment. The detection/diagnosis as well as environmental survey strategies is mainly based on the identification of the 18S rDNA sequences of the strains that allow the recovery of various distinct genotypes/subgenotypes. The accurate recording of such data is important to better know the environmental distribution of distinct genotypes and how they may be preferentially associated with disease. Recently, a putative new acanthamoebal genotype T99 was introduced, which comprises only environmental clones apparently with some anomalous features. Here, we analyze these sequences through partial treeing and BLAST analyses and find that they are actually chimeras. Our results show that the putative T99 genotype is very likely formed by chimeric sequences including a middle fragment from acanthamoebae of genotype T13, while the 5′- and 3′-end fragments came from a nematode and a cercozoan, respectively. Molecular phylogenies of Acanthamoeba including T99 are consequently erroneous as genotype T99 does not exist in nature. Careful identification of Acanthamoeba genotypes is therefore critical for both phylogenetic and diagnostic applications.
ISSN:0932-0113
1432-1955
DOI:10.1007/s00436-017-5690-9