title: Genetic micro-heterogeneity of Leishmania major in emerging foci of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in Tunisia.
abstract: Tunisia is endemic for zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL), a parasitic disease caused by Leishmania (L.) major. ZCL displays a wide clinical polymorphism, with severe forms present more frequently in emerging foci where naive populations are dominant. In this study, we applied the multi-locus microsatellite typing (MLMT) using ten highly informative and discriminative markers to investigate the genetic structure of 35 Tunisian Leishmania (L.) major isolates collected from patients living in five different foci of Central Tunisia (two old and three emerging foci). Phylogenetic reconstructions based on genetic distances showed that nine of the ten tested loci were homogeneous in all isolates with homozygous alleles, whereas one locus (71AT) had a 58/64-bp bi-allelic profile with an allele linked to emerging foci. Promastigote-stage parasites with the 58-bp allele tend to be more resistant to in vitro complement lysis. These results, which stress the geographical dependence of the genetic micro-heterogeneity, may improve our understanding of the ZCL epidemiology and clinical outcome.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Hanene
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Attia
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Rabiaa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Sghaier
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Tesfaye
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gelanew
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Aymen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bali
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schweynoch
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Fatma Z
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Guerfali
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Ghada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mkannez
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia; Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Service of Medical Epidemiology, Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Sadok
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chlif
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia; Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Service of Medical Epidemiology, Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nabil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Belhaj-Hamida
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Koussay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dellagi
authors.affiliation: Institut für Mikrobiologie und Hygiene, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schönian
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Tunis, LR11IPT02, Laboratory of Transmission, Control and Immunobiology of Infections (LTCII), Tunis-Belvédère 1002, Tunisia; Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis 1068, Tunisia. Electronic address: dhafer_l@yahoo.ca.
authors.forename: Dhafer
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laouini
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics*; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D056426:Genetic Loci; D018503:Genome, Protozoan; D006801:Humans; D018320:Leishmania major / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016773:Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000235:genetics*; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D011576:Psychodidae / Q000469:parasitology; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan
keywords: Emerging focus; Heterogeneity; Leishmania major; Multi-locus microsatellite typing; Old focus; Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis