Sequence and annotation of the apicoplast genome of the human pathogen Babesia microti

The apicomplexan intraerythrocytic parasite Babesia microti is an emerging human pathogen and the primary cause of human babesiosis, a malaria-like illness endemic in the United States. The pathogen is transmitted to humans by the tick vector, Ixodes scapularis, and by transfusion of blood from asym...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2014-10, Vol.9 (10), p.e107939-e107939
Main Authors: Garg, Aprajita, Stein, Anna, Zhao, William, Dwivedi, Ankit, Frutos, Roger, Cornillot, Emmanuel, Ben Mamoun, Choukri
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Apicoplasts - genetics
Babesia
Babesia microti
Babesia microti - classification
Babesia microti - genetics
Babesiosis
Babesiosis - parasitology
Bioinformatics
Biology and Life Sciences
Blood transfusion
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
Ectoparasites
Gene Order
Genes
Genome, Plastid
Genomes
Humans
Infectious diseases
Internal medicine
Malaria
Medicine
Metabolism
Mitochondria
Molecular Sequence Annotation
Molecular Sequence Data
Multigene Family
Nucleotide sequence
Parasites
Pathogens
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Proteins
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Theileria
Transcription
Transfusion
Vector-borne diseases
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Summary:The apicomplexan intraerythrocytic parasite Babesia microti is an emerging human pathogen and the primary cause of human babesiosis, a malaria-like illness endemic in the United States. The pathogen is transmitted to humans by the tick vector, Ixodes scapularis, and by transfusion of blood from asymptomatic B. microti-infected donors. Whereas the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of this parasite have been sequenced, assembled and annotated, its apicoplast genome remained incomplete, mainly due to its low representation and high A+T content. Here we report the complete sequence and annotation of the apicoplast genome of the B. microti R1 isolate. The genome consists of a 28.7 kb circular molecule encoding primarily functions important for maintenance of the apicoplast DNA, transcription, translation and maturation of organellar proteins. Genome analysis and annotation revealed a unique gene structure and organization of the B. microti apicoplast genome and suggest that all metabolic and non-housekeeping functions in this organelle are nuclear-encoded. B. microti apicoplast functions are significantly different from those of the host, suggesting that they might be useful as targets for development of potent and safe therapies for the treatment of human babesiosis.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0107939