Phylogenetic analysis of Leishmania spp. putative phospholipases A1 genes as potential molecular markers

LOPEZ, SEBASTIAN ANDRES; GIMÉNEZ, GUADALUPE; MARCO, DIEGO; BARROSO, PAOLA; UNCOS, DELFOR ALEJANDRO; RUYBAL, PAULA; BELAUNZARÁN, MARIA LAURA; LAUTHIER, JUAN JOSE

Rio de Janeiro

Encuentro; III Host - Pathogen Interaction Meeting; 2023

Instituto Oswaldo Cruz

INTRODUCTION: Leishmaniasis is a set of clinical manifestations caused by severalspecies of protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. In Argentina, L. (Viannia)braziliensis, L. (Leishmania) amazonensis and L. (Leishmania) infantum are the mainspecies responsible of American tegumentary and visceral leishmaniasis.Phospholipases A 1 (PLA 1 ) are enzymes which hydrolyse phospholipids at the sn-1position. Although they are detected in many microorganisms, few nucleotidesequences are available for their comparison and characterization. In relation totrypanosomatids, Trypanosoma brucei, T. cruzi and L. (V.) braziliensis PLA 1 geneshave been already identified (GenBank ACCN: AJ716154, JN975637, KJ957826).OBJECTIVES: This work analyzes Leishmania spp. putative PLA 1 genes as potentialmolecular markers. METHODS: L. (L.) amazonensis (LaPLA 1 ), L.(L.)infantum(LiPLA 1 ) and L. (V.) braziliensis (LbPLA 1 ) PLA 1 genes were amplified by PCR usingas template genomic DNA (gDNA) obtained from promastigotes axenically grown orisolated from clinical specimens. PCR products were sequenced (Macrogen Inc.,Korea) and alignments were constructed (MEGA 11). Nucleotide consensussequences and those available in GeneBank and TritrypDB were included inNeighbour Joining (NJ) phylogenetic trees (MLSTest). RESULTS: The bioinformaticanalysis of all nucleotide sequences showed that each subgenus, species complexand species clustered according to the genus taxonomy. Isolates from clinicalspecimens (autochthonous cases) clustered according to the different taxonomicalgroups from the genus in congruence with the taxonomy determined by HSP-70.CONCLUSION: PLA 1 is a potential molecular marker in the taxonomical differentiationof Leishmania spp. and might contribute to the differentiation of intraspecies variantswith respect to the reference marker HSP-70.