부산대학교 도서관

Bartonella bacilliformis is a Gram-negative, aerobic bacterium and the known causal agent of Carrion's disease, still considered a neglected disease. There is limited information about the nucleotide sequences of this bacterium in international databases, and few studies have addressed the genetic diversity of B. bacilliformis. We analyzed a total of 20 isolates of B. bacilliformis from the Peruvian regions of Ancash and Cajamarca. Three genes (ialB, gltA, and rpoB) were sequenced in each isolate and nucleotide sequences retrieved from GenBank (16 B. bacilliformis genomes) were also included in the study. All this information was merged in order to obtain clearer evidence of the phylogenetic relationships of B. bacilliformis. In the phylogenetic analysis conducted with the concatenated markers, four isolates (B.b-1, B. b-3, B. b- 7, B.b-8) from the Ancash region were observed to form a subgroup different from B. bacilliformis type strain KC583, showing dissimilarity levels of 5.96% (ialB), 3.69% (gltA) and 3.04% (rpoB). Our results suggest that B. bacilliformis consists of two different subgroups. Future investigations are needed to establish the taxonomic status of these subgroups. Author summary: Bartonella bacilliformis is the causative agent of Carrion's disease, which affects neglected communities of the South American Andes. The available information about the genomic aspect of B. bacilliformis is limited, and there is no information on the ecological and geographical bases of the divergence of this bacterium. In this study, three genes were sequenced in twenty isolates of B. bacilliformis from Ancash and Cajamarca, Peruvian endemic areas. The collected data suggest a specific subgroup of B. bacilliformis present in the Ancash region, it could therefore be assumed that there is a sub-speciation process in the strains of this endemic zone of Peru. Additionally, our findings show non-synonymous mutations that could trigger the alterations of the activity or structure of the proteins codified by the sequence genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]