Concatenated ScaA and TSA56 Surface Antigen Sequences Reflect Genome-Scale Phylogeny of : An Analysis Including Two Genomes from Taiwan.
Journal
Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland)
Journal Volume
13
Journal Issue
4
Start Page
299
ISSN
2076-0817
Date Issued
2024-04-03
Author(s)
Abstract
is an obligate intracellular bacterium associated with trombiculid mites and is the causative agent of scrub typhus, a life-threatening febrile disease. Strain typing of is based on its immunodominant surface antigen, 56-kDa type-specific antigen (TSA56). However, TSA56 gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis is only partially congruent with core genome-based phylogenetic analysis. Thus, this study investigated whether concatenated surface antigen sequences, including surface cell antigen (Sca) proteins, can reflect the genome-scale phylogeny of . Complete genomes were obtained for two common strains in Taiwan, TW-1 and TW-22, and the core genome/proteome was identified for 11 strains. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using maximum likelihood (ML) and neighbor-joining (NJ) methods, and the congruence between trees was assessed using a quartet similarity measure. Phylogenetic analysis based on 691 concatenated core protein sequences produced identical tree topologies with ML and NJ methods. Among TSA56 and core Sca proteins (ScaA, ScaC, ScaD, and ScaE), TSA56 trees were most similar to the core protein tree, and ScaA trees were the least similar. However, concatenated ScaA and TSA56 sequences produced trees that were highly similar to the core protein tree, the NJ tree being more similar. Strain-level characterization of may be improved by coanalyzing ScaA and TSA56 sequences, which are also important targets for their combined immunogenicity.
Subjects
genotyping
phylogenetics
scrub typhus
surface cell antigens
SDGs
Publisher
MDPI
Type
journal article