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A Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Molecular Approach to Characterize a Tick Vector in Lyme Disease.

ABSTRACT: Next-generation sequencing approaches have revolutionized genomic medicine and enabled rapid diagnosis for several diseases. These approaches are widely used for pathogen detection in several infectious diseases. Lyme disease is a tick-borne infectious disease, which affects multiple organs. The causative organism is a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by ticks. Lyme disease can be treated easily if detected early, but its diagnosis is often delayed or is incorrect leading to a chronic debilitating condition. Current confirmatory diagnostic tests for Lyme disease rely on detection of antigens derived from B. burgdorferi, which are prone to both false positives and false negatives. Instead of focusing only on the human host for the diagnosis of Lyme disease, one could also attempt to identify the vector (tick) and the causative organism carried by the tick. Since all ticks do not transmit Lyme disease, it can be informative to accurately identify the tick from the site of bite, which is often observed by the patient and discarded. However, identifying ticks based on morphology alone requires a trained operator and can still be incorrect. Thus, we decided to take a molecular approach by sequencing DNA and RNA from a tick collected from an individual bitten by the tick. Using next-generation sequencing, we confirmed the identity of the tick as a dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis, and did not identify any pathogenic bacterial sequences, including Borrelia species. Despite the limited availability of nucleotide sequences for many types of ticks, our approach correctly identified the tick species. This proof-of-principle study demonstrates the potential of next-generation sequencing in the diagnosis of tick-borne infections, which can also be extended to other zoonotic diseases.

SUBMITTER: Madugundu AK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6112187 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Molecular Approach to Characterize a Tick Vector in Lyme Disease.

Madugundu Anil K AK Muthusamy Babylakshmi B Sreenivasamurthy Sreelakshmi K SK Bhavani Chandra C Sharma Jyoti J Kumar Bankatesh B Murthy Krishna R KR Ravikumar Raju R Pandey Akhilesh A

Omics : a journal of integrative biology 20180801 8

Next-generation sequencing approaches have revolutionized genomic medicine and enabled rapid diagnosis for several diseases. These approaches are widely used for pathogen detection in several infectious diseases. Lyme disease is a tick-borne infectious disease, which affects multiple organs. The causative organism is a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by ticks. Lyme disease can be treated easily if detected early, but its diagnosis is often delayed or is incorrect leading t ...[more]

PMID: 30106352

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Project description:Retinoblastoma (RB, OMIM:180200) is the most common malignant childhood tumor of the eye with an estimated incidence between 1 in 16,000 and 1 in 18,000 live births [1,2]. RB is the first disease for which a genetic etiology of cancer has been described [3] being caused by mutations in the first tumor suppressor gene identified (RB1, Genbank accession # L11910). Mutations in both alleles of the RB1 gene are required for the development of this neoplasm [4], and, depending on the germ-line or somatic origin of the defect, a heritable or sporadic form can be distinguished. RB is unilateral in 60% of cases and only 15% of these are heritable [5]; in contrast, 40% of retinoblastomas are bilateral with risk of transmission to the offspring. Heritable retinoblastoma constitutes a cancer predisposition syndrome [6]. RB1 is located on chromosome 13 at band q14 and can be affected by a heterogeneous spectrum of genetic abnormalities, including chromosome translocation/deletion, genomic rearrangements, ranging from whole gene microdeletion to intragenic exons loss or duplication, and more than 900 different point mutations [7]. Mutational analysis is performed to search for the predisposing RB1 gene mutation in peripheral blood of patients with RB, but the molecular diagnosis requires several technical approaches to cover the entire field of oncogenic RB1 defects, frequently resulting in numerous, expensive and time consuming procedures. In particular, cytogenetic tools, such as classical chromosome investigations and Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH), in addition to Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) technique, may account for detection of about 16% of RB1 abnormalities [8], while the remaining large amount of point mutations need to be investigated using sequencing analysis. Since the 1970s, Sanger sequencing has been recognized as the gold standard for mutation analysis in molecular diagnostics; however, its low-throughput, long turnaround time and overall cost [9] have called for new paradigms. Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) can massively sequence millions of DNA segments, promising low costs, increased workflow speed and enhanced sensitivity in mutation detection [9,10,11] On the other hand, conventional and molecular cytogenetic analysis, have been replaced by modern high-throughput investigations, such as array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH), that can reveal and measure cryptic genomic imbalances. In addition, aCGH can be focused on specific DNA segments or genes maximizing the resolution via a customized process. Based on these observations, we have recruited a cohort of retinoblastoma patients we previously investigated with conventional cytogenetics and MLPA. Patients diagnosed with RB but negative to the above standard screening have been tested with NGS to assess its ability in identifying RB causative mutations. On the other hand, patients positive to standard screening have been further investigated with RB1-custom array CGH analysis to characterize the genomic rearrangements with a better resolution compared to the conventional techniques. The complementary aCGH data set related to this study has also been deposited at ArrayExpress, under accession number E-MTAB-3492: https://www.ebi.ac.uk/arrayexpress/experiments/E-MTAB-3492/

Project description:Mixed or multiple-strain infections are common in vector-borne diseases and have important implications for the epidemiology of these pathogens. Previous studies have mainly focused on interactions between pathogen strains in the vertebrate host, but little is known about what happens in the arthropod vector. Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii are two species of spirochete bacteria that cause Lyme borreliosis in Europe and that share a tick vector, Ixodes ricinus Each of these two tick-borne pathogens consists of multiple strains that are often differentiated using the highly polymorphic ospC gene. For each Borrelia species, we studied the frequencies and abundances of the ospC strains in a wild population of I. ricinus ticks that had been sampled from the same field site over a period of 3 years. We used quantitative PCR (qPCR) and 454 sequencing to estimate the spirochete load and the strain diversity within each tick. For B. afzelii, there was a negative relationship between the two most common ospC strains, suggesting the presence of competitive interactions in the vertebrate host and possibly the tick vector. The flat relationship between total spirochete abundance and strain richness in the nymphal tick indicates that the mean abundance per strain decreases as the number of strains in the tick increases. Strains with the highest spirochete load in the nymphal tick were the most common strains in the tick population. The spirochete abundance in the nymphal tick appears to be an important life history trait that explains why some strains are more common than others in nature. IMPORTANCE:Lyme borreliosis is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere and is caused by spirochete bacteria that belong to the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species complex. These tick-borne pathogens are transmitted among vertebrate hosts by hard ticks of the genus Ixodes Each Borrelia species can be further subdivided into genetically distinct strains. Multiple-strain infections are common in both the vertebrate host and the tick vector and can result in competitive interactions. To date, few studies on multiple-strain vector-borne pathogens have investigated patterns of cooccurrence and abundance in the arthropod vector. We demonstrate that the abundance of a given strain in the tick vector is negatively affected by the presence of coinfecting strains. In addition, our study suggests that the spirochete abundance in the tick is an important life history trait that can explain why some strains are more common in nature than others.

Dataset Information

A Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Molecular Approach to Characterize a Tick Vector in Lyme Disease.

Publications

A Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Molecular Approach to Characterize a Tick Vector in Lyme Disease.

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