The Characteristics of Ubiquitous and UniqueLeptospiraStrains from the Collection of Russian Centre for Leptospirosis

Abstract

Background and Aim. Leptospira, the causal agent of leptospirosis, has been isolated from the environment, patients, and wide spectrum of animals in Russia. However, the genetic diversity of Leptospira in natural and anthropurgic foci was not clearly defined. Methods. The recent MLST scheme was used for the analysis of seven pathogenic species. 454 pyrosequencing technology was the base of the whole genome sequencing (WGS). Results. The most wide spread and prevalent Leptospira species in Russia were L. interrogans, L. kirschneri, and L. borgpetersenii. Five STs, common for Russian strains: 37, 17, 199, 110, and 146, were identified as having a longtime and ubiquitous distribution in various geographic areas. Unexpected properties were revealed for the environmental Leptospira strain Bairam-Ali. WGS of this strain genome suggested that it combined the features of the pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains and may be a reservoir of the natural resistance genes. Results of the comparative analysis of rrs and rpoB genes and MLST loci for different Leptospira species strains and phenotypic and serological properties of the strain Bairam-Ali suggested that it represented separate Leptospira species. Conclusions. Thus, the natural and anthropurgic foci supported ubiquitous Leptospira species and the pool of genes important for bacterial adaptivity to various conditions.

Genetic diversity of pathogenic leptospires from wild, domestic and captive host species in Portugal

“…This sequence type seems to be responsible for up to 90% of human leptospirosis cases in São Paulo, Brazil (Romero, Blanco, & Galloway, 2011) and was also identified in a rat, pig and human hosts in Argentina (Caimi et al, 2012). It seems to be also frequent in Russia (Voronina et al, 2014) and China (Zhang et al, 2015). Most interesting, Previous studies noticed that MLST approaches may contribute to unravel potential associations between specific Leptospira STs and their hosts and geographic regions of origin (Boonsilp et al, 2013;Dietrich et al, 2018Dietrich et al, , 2014.…”

“…This sequence type seems to be responsible for up to 90% of human leptospirosis cases in São Paulo, Brazil (Romero, Blanco, & Galloway, ) and was also identified in a rat, pig and human hosts in Argentina (Caimi et al, ). It seems to be also frequent in Russia (Voronina et al, ) and China (Zhang et al, ). Most interesting, ST (7LBoonsilp) 17 isolates were responsible for an outbreak of severe leptospirosis among capuchin monkeys in a Colombian wildlife rehabilitation centre (Szonyi, Agudelo‐Florez, Ramirez, Moreno, & Ko, ).…”

Genetic characteristics of pathogenic Leptospira in wild small animals and livestock in Jiangxi Province, China, 2002–2015

“…ST17 was identified in 90 strains of serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae in Sao Paulo [36]. Five common STs, ST37, ST17, ST 199, ST110, and ST146, were reported to have a longterm and ubiquitous distribution in Russia [37]. ST37, ST118 and ST119 were isolated from dogs in Japan [38].…”

Molecular Typing of Pathogenic Leptospira Serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae Strains Circulating in China during the Past 50 Years

“…All the 3 serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae strains isolated between 1993~2005 were identified as ST17 [ 21 ]. Among 11 serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae strains in Russia, four STs (ST17, ST199, ST23 and ST206) were found [ 22 ]. It was previously reported that Icterohaemorrhagiae was the most prevalent serogroup in Brazil [ 23 , 33 ], and all the 90 serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae strains isolated between 1986~2009 in the state of Sao Paulo were identified as ST17 [ 23 ].…”