Comparative genomic analysis of three Leishmania species that cause diverse human disease.

Christopher S Peacock , Kathy Seeger , David Harris , Lee Murphy , Nick Peters , Ellen Adlem , Adrian Tivey , Martin Aslett , Arnaud Kerhornou , Alasdair Ivens , Audrey Fraser , Marie-Adele Rajandream , Tim Carver , Halina Norbertczak , Tracey Chillingworth , Zahra Hance , Kay Jagels , Sharon Moule , Doug Ormond , Simon Rutter , Rob Squares , Sally Whitehead , Ester Rabbinowitsch , Claire Arrowsmith , Brian White , Scott Thurston , Frédéric Bringaud (1) , Sandra L Baldauf , Adam Faulconbridge , Daniel Jeffares , Daniel P Depledge , Samuel O Oyola , James D Hilley , Loislene O Brito , Luiz R O Tosi , Barclay Barrell , Angela K Cruz , Jeremy C Mottram , Deborah F Smith (2, 3) , Matthew Berriman

1 MFP - Microbiologie Fondamentale et Pathogénicité
2 Fogarty International Center
3 Department of Biology [York]

Leishmania parasites cause a broad spectrum of clinical disease. Here we report the sequencing of the genomes of two species of Leishmania: Leishmania infantum and Leishmania braziliensis. The comparison of these sequences with the published genome of Leishmania major reveals marked conservation of synteny and identifies only approximately 200 genes with a differential distribution between the three species. L. braziliensis, contrary to Leishmania species examined so far, possesses components of a putative RNA-mediated interference pathway, telomere-associated transposable elements and spliced leader-associated SLACS retrotransposons. We show that pseudogene formation and gene loss are the principal forces shaping the different genomes. Genes that are differentially distributed between the species encode proteins implicated in host-pathogen interactions and parasite survival in the macrophage.

Domaines: Microbiologie et Parasitologie

Christopher S Peacock, Kathy Seeger, David Harris, Lee Murphy, Nick Peters, et al.. Comparative genomic analysis of three Leishmania species that cause diverse human disease.. Nature Genetics, 2007, 39 (7), pp.839-47. ⟨10.1038/ng2053⟩. ⟨hal-00169316⟩