ena-PROJECT-Vital-IT-17-07-2012-09:19:37:493-6
Comparative genomics of metastatic and non-metastatic Leishmania guyanensis for finding the genetic factors involved in Leishmania RNA virus maintenance
Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease due to a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania. Among the disease manifestations, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL) is one of the most severe forms caused by Leishmania Viannia subgenus. It includes South and Central America species such as L. braziliensis, L. panamensis and L. guyanensis. These species lead to cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) but some strains have the ability to metastasize to the nasofacial area producing tissue destruction, deformities, and respiratory obstruction, which is the clinical outcome of MCL. Recent evidence suggests an association between MCL and a double-stranded RNA virus (LRV). Indeed,  metastasizing clones harbour high density of LRV and induce a hyper-inflammatory response in the host as compared to non-metastasizing Leishmania guyanensis parasites (Ives et al. 2011).  The goal of this work is to compare genomes of  LRV-infected parasites and non-infected parasites to evaluate the possible impact of genetic differences on LRV load. For this purpose, we sequenced, de novo assembled and annotated six genomes from Leishmania guyanensis parasites isolated from the sand fly vector or from human cutaneous or mucocutaneous lesions respectively and differing in their LRV load.
Leishmaniasis is an infectious disease due to a protozoan parasite of the genus Leishmania. Among the disease manifestations, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL) is one of the most severe forms caused by Leishmania Viannia subgenus. It includes South and Central America species such as L. braziliensis, L. panamensis and L. guyanensis. These species lead to cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) but some strains have the ability to metastasize to the nasofacial area producing tissue destruction, deformities, and respiratory obstruction, which is the clinical outcome of MCL. Recent evidence suggests an association between MCL and a double-stranded RNA virus (LRV). Indeed,  metastasizing clones harbour high density of LRV and induce a hyper-inflammatory response in the host as compared to non-metastasizing Leishmania guyanensis parasites (Ives et al. 2011).  The goal of this work is to compare genomes of  LRV-infected parasites and non-infected parasites to evaluate the possible impact of genetic differences on LRV load. For this purpose, we sequenced, de novo assembled and annotated six genomes from Leishmania guyanensis parasites isolated from the sand fly vector or from human cutaneous or mucocutaneous lesions respectively and differing in their LRV load.