title: Survey, Culture, and Genome Analysis of OcularChlamydia trachomatisin Tibetan Boarding Primary Schools in Qinghai Province, China.
abstract: Trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, is an ancient human disease. Its existence in China can be traced back to as early as the twenty-seventh century BC. In modern China, the overall prevalence of trachoma has dramatically reduced, but trachoma is still endemic in many areas of the country. Here, we report that 26 (8%) of 322 students from two rural boarding schools of Qinghai province, west China, were identified as having ocularC. trachomatisinfection; and 15 ocularC. trachomatisstrains were isolated from these trachoma patients.Chlamydiaein 37 clinical samples were genotyped as type B based onompAgene analyses. ThreeompAvariants with one or two in-between SNP differences in the second or fourth variable domain were found.C. trachomatisstrains QH111L and QH111R were from the same patient's left and right conjunctival swabs, respectively, but theirompAgenes have a non-synonymous base difference in the second variable domain. Moreover, this SNP only exists in this single sample, suggesting QH111L is a newly emergedompAvariant. Interestingly, chromosomal phylogeny analysis found QH111L clusters between a branch of two type B strains and a branch of both A and C strains, but is significantly divergent from both branches. Comparative chromosome analysis found that compared to sequences of reference B/TZ1A828/OT strain, 12 of 22 QH111L's chromosomal genes exhibiting more than nine SNPs have the best homology with reciprocal genes of UGT strains while 9 of 22 genes are closest to those of type C strains. Consistent with findings of UGT-type genetic features in the chromosome, the QH111L plasmid appears to be intermediate between UGT and classical ocular plasmids due to the existence of UGT-type SNPs in the QH111L plasmid. Moreover, the QH111L strain has a unique evolutionarily older cytotoxin region compared to cytotoxin regions of otherC. trachomatisstrains. The genome analyses suggest that the QH111L strain is derived from recombinations between UGT and classical ocular ancestors. This is the first study of culture and characterization of ocularC. trachomatisin Qinghai Tibetan areas.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yonghui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shengdong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Ophthalmology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ningli
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lihua
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D002692:Chlamydia trachomatis / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012574:Schools; D017385:Sequence Homology; D018609:Tibet / Q000453:epidemiology; D014141:Trachoma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; C078167:OMPA outer membrane proteins
keywords: China; Chlamydia trachomatis; chlamydia; ompA; trachoma