Genetic diversity of francisella tularensis subsp. Holarctica in kazakhstan
Shevtsov V. Kairzhanova A. Shevtsov A. Shustov A. Kalendar R. Abdrakhmanov S. Lukhnova L. Izbanova U. Ramankulov Y. Vergnaud G.
May 2021Public Library of Science
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
2021#15Issue 5
Tularemia is a highly dangerous zoonotic infection due to the bacteria Francisella tularensis. Low genetic diversity promoted the use of polymorphic tandem repeats (MLVA) as first-line assay for genetic description. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is becoming increasingly accessible, opening the perspective of a time when WGS might become the universal geno-typing assay. The main goal of this study was to describe F. tularensis strains circulating in Kazakhstan based on WGS data and develop a MLVA assay compatible with in vitro and in silico analysis. In vitro MLVA genotyping and WGS were performed for the vaccine strain and for 38 strains isolated in Kazakhstan from natural water bodies, ticks, rodents, carni-vores, and from one migratory bird, an Isabellina wheatear captured in a rodent burrow. The two genotyping approaches were congruent and allowed to attribute all strains to two F. tularensis holarctica lineages, B.4 and B.12. The seven tandem repeats polymorphic in the investigated strain collection could be typed in a single multiplex PCR assay. Identical MLVA genotypes were produced by in vitro and in silico analysis, demonstrating full compatibility between the two approaches. The strains from Kazakhstan were compared to all pub-licly available WGS data of worldwide origin by whole genome SNP (wgSNP) analysis. Genotypes differing at a single SNP position were collected within a time interval of more than fifty years, from locations separated from each other by more than one thousand kilo-meters, supporting a role for migratory birds in the worldwide spread of the bacteria.
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National Center for Biotechnology, Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan
S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University, Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan
National Scientific Center for Especially Dangerous Infections named by Masgut Aykimbayev, Almaty, Kazakhstan
School of Science and Technology, Nazarbayev University, Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan
Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
National Center for Biotechnology
S. Seifullin Kazakh Agrotechnical University
National Scientific Center for Especially Dangerous Infections named by Masgut Aykimbayev
School of Science and Technology
Université Paris-Saclay
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