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Geographic diversity among genotypes of Entamoeba histolytica field isolates.

ABSTRACT: It has been known that only 5 to 10% of those infected with Entamoeba histolytica develop symptomatic disease. However, the parasite and the host factors that determine the onset of disease remain undetermined. Molecular typing by using polymorphic genetic loci has been proven to aid in the close examination of the population structure of E. histolytica field isolates in nature. In the present study, we analyzed the genetic polymorphisms of two noncoding loci (locus 1-2 and locus 5-6) and two protein-coding loci (chitinase and serine-rich E. histolytica protein [SREHP]) among 79 isolates obtained from different geographic regions, mainly Japan, Thailand, and Bangladesh. When the genotypes of the four loci were combined for all isolates that we have analyzed so far (overlapping isolates from mass infection events were excluded), a total of 53 different genotypes were observed among 63 isolates. The most remarkable and extensive variations among the four loci was found in the SREHP locus; i.e., 34 different genotypes were observed among 52 isolates. These results demonstrate that E. histolytica has an extremely complex genetic structure independent of geographic location. Our results also show that, despite the proposed transmission of other sexually transmitted diseases, including human immunodeficiency virus infection, from Thailand to Japan, the spectra of the genotypes of the E. histolytica isolates from these two countries are distinct, suggesting that the major E. histolytica strains prevalent in Japan at present were likely introduced from countries other than Thailand. Although the genetic polymorphism of the SREHP locus was previously suggested to be closely associated with the clinical presentation, e.g., colitis or dysentery and liver abscess, no association between the clinical presentation and the SREHP genotype at either the nucleotide or the predicted amino acid level was demonstrated.

SUBMITTER: Haghighi A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC179867 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Geographic diversity among genotypes of Entamoeba histolytica field isolates.

Haghighi Ali A Kobayashi Seiki S Takeuchi Tsutomu T Thammapalerd Nitaya N Nozaki Tomoyoshi T

Journal of clinical microbiology 20030801 8

It has been known that only 5 to 10% of those infected with Entamoeba histolytica develop symptomatic disease. However, the parasite and the host factors that determine the onset of disease remain undetermined. Molecular typing by using polymorphic genetic loci has been proven to aid in the close examination of the population structure of E. histolytica field isolates in nature. In the present study, we analyzed the genetic polymorphisms of two noncoding loci (locus 1-2 and locus 5-6) and two pr ...[more]

PMID: 12904386

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Project description:In order to understand genetic polymorphisms among Entamoeba histolytica strains in a limited geographic area and among restricted social populations, we studied nucleotide polymorphism in DNA regions that do not encode proteins (locus 1-2 and locus 5-6) and in genes coding for chitinase and for serine-rich E. histolytica protein. Thirty E. histolytica isolates from domestically infected Japanese amebiasis patients (male homosexuals and residents in institutions for the mentally handicapped) and four reference strains were examined. PCR revealed remarkable polymorphisms in both the number and size of the PCR fragments containing these loci. Polymorphisms in lengths, types, and numbers of internal repeat units were observed in locus 1-2 and the repeat-containing region of serine-rich E. histolytica protein among the Japanese isolates. In contrast, polymorphism at locus 5-6 was observed almost exclusively in the number of repeats of a 16-nucleotide unit. The repeat-containing region of chitinase appeared to be the least polymorphic among the four loci with a single dominant genotype representing 66% (20 out of 30) of all of the isolates. Isolates obtained from male homosexuals showed a more complex genetic polymorphism than those from residents in institutions. Considering all four polymorphic loci together, all 19 Japanese isolates from male homosexuals were distinct. In contrast, all isolates obtained from mass-infection cases at a single institution had an identical genotype, suggesting that these cases were caused by a single E. histolytica strain. No significant correlation was found between genotypes and zymodemes or between genotypes and clinical presentations, e.g., colitis or liver abscess. Certain genotypes were observed with higher frequencies in male homosexuals or residents of institutions. These data indicate that genotyping of the E. histolytica isolates by using these four polymorphic loci could serve as a tool to fingerprint individual isolates. We propose that genotyping of ameba isolates should help to determine geographic origins of isolates and routes of transmission.

Dataset Information

Geographic diversity among genotypes of Entamoeba histolytica field isolates.

Publications

Geographic diversity among genotypes of Entamoeba histolytica field isolates.

Similar Datasets

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