title: Clinical isolates of Trichomonas vaginalis concurrently infected by strains of up to four Trichomonasvirus species (Family Totiviridae).
abstract: Trichomonas vaginalis, which causes the most common nonviral sexually transmitted disease worldwide, is itself commonly infected by nonsegmented double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses from the genus Trichomonasvirus, family Totiviridae. To date, cDNA sequences of one or more strains of each of three trichomonasvirus species have been reported, and gel electrophoresis showing several different dsRNA molecules obtained from a few T. vaginalis isolates has suggested that more than one virus strain might concurrently infect the same parasite cell. Here, we report the complete cDNA sequences of 3 trichomonasvirus strains, one from each of the 3 known species, infecting a single, agar-cloned clinical isolate of T. vaginalis, confirming the natural capacity for concurrent (in this case, triple) infections in this system. We furthermore report the complete cDNA sequences of 11 additional trichomonasvirus strains, from 4 other clinical isolates of T. vaginalis. These additional strains represent the three known trichomonasvirus species, as well as a newly identified fourth species. Moreover, 2 of these other T. vaginalis isolates are concurrently infected by strains of all 4 trichomonasvirus species (i.e., quadruple infections). In sum, the full-length cDNA sequences of these 14 new trichomonasviruses greatly expand the existing data set for members of this genus and substantiate our understanding of their genome organizations, protein-coding and replication signals, diversity, and phylogenetics. The complexity of this virus-host system is greater than has been previously well recognized and suggests a number of important questions relating to the pathogenesis and disease outcomes of T. vaginalis infections of the human genital mucosa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Russell P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Taylor S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Freret
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kula
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.forename: Megan W T
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Talkington
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tang-Fernandez
authors.forename: Olimpia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Suciu
authors.forename: Aleksander A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Demidenko
authors.forename: Said A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ghabrial
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Beach
authors.forename: Bibhuti N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Raina N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Fichorova
authors.forename: Max L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Nibert
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D019196:Totiviridae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014245:Trichomonas Infections / Q000469:parasitology*; D014246:Trichomonas vaginalis / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012367:RNA, Viral