Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.

<h4>Background</h4>Giardia duodenalis is a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide. Humans are mainly infected by two different subtypes, i.e., assemblage A and B. Genotyping is hampered by allelic sequence heterozygosity (ASH) mainly in assemblage B, and by occurrence of mixed infect...

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Main Authors: Andreas Woschke, Mirko Faber, Klaus Stark, Martha Holtfreter, Frank Mockenhaupt, Joachim Richter, Thomas Regnath, Ingo Sobottka, Ingrid Reiter-Owona, Andreas Diefenbach, Petra Gosten-Heinrich, Johannes Friesen, Ralf Ignatius, Toni Aebischer, Christian Klotz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-03-01
Series:PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009277&type=printable
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author Andreas Woschke
Mirko Faber
Klaus Stark
Martha Holtfreter
Frank Mockenhaupt
Joachim Richter
Thomas Regnath
Ingo Sobottka
Ingrid Reiter-Owona
Andreas Diefenbach
Petra Gosten-Heinrich
Johannes Friesen
Ralf Ignatius
Toni Aebischer
Christian Klotz
author_facet Andreas Woschke
Mirko Faber
Klaus Stark
Martha Holtfreter
Frank Mockenhaupt
Joachim Richter
Thomas Regnath
Ingo Sobottka
Ingrid Reiter-Owona
Andreas Diefenbach
Petra Gosten-Heinrich
Johannes Friesen
Ralf Ignatius
Toni Aebischer
Christian Klotz
author_sort Andreas Woschke
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Giardia duodenalis is a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide. Humans are mainly infected by two different subtypes, i.e., assemblage A and B. Genotyping is hampered by allelic sequence heterozygosity (ASH) mainly in assemblage B, and by occurrence of mixed infections. Here we assessed the suitability of current genotyping protocols of G. duodenalis for epidemiological applications such as molecular tracing of transmission chains.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Two G. duodenalis isolate collections, from an outpatient tropical medicine clinic and from several primary care laboratories, were characterized by assemblage-specific qPCR (TIF, CATH gene loci) and a common multi locus sequence typing (MLST; TPI, BG, GDH gene loci). Assemblage A isolates were further typed at additional loci (HCMP22547, CID1, RHP26, HCMP6372, DIS3, NEK15411). Of 175/202 (86.6%) patients the G. duodenalis assemblage could be identified: Assemblages A 25/175 (14.3%), B 115/175 (65.7%) and A+B mixed 35/175 (20.0%). By incorporating allelic sequence heterozygosity in the analysis, the three marker MLST correctly identified 6/9 (66,7%) and 4/5 (80.0%) consecutive samples from chronic assemblage B infections in the two collections, respectively, and identified a cluster of five independent patients carrying assemblage B parasites of identical MLST type. Extended MLST for assemblage A altogether identified 5/6 (83,3%) consecutive samples from chronic assemblage A infections and 15 novel genotypes. Based on the observed A+B mixed infections it is estimated that only 75% and 50% of assemblage A or B only cases represent single strain infections, respectively. We demonstrate that typing results are consistent with this prediction.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Typing of assemblage A and B isolates with resolution for epidemiological applications is possible but requires separate genotyping protocols. The high frequency of multiple infections and their impact on typing results are findings with immediate consequences for result interpretation in this field.
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institution DOAJ
issn 1935-2727
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language English
publishDate 2021-03-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
spelling doaj-art-96f2d29ff7d34e51b8a38ef0a7f290532025-08-20T02:54:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases1935-27271935-27352021-03-01153e000927710.1371/journal.pntd.0009277Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.Andreas WoschkeMirko FaberKlaus StarkMartha HoltfreterFrank MockenhauptJoachim RichterThomas RegnathIngo SobottkaIngrid Reiter-OwonaAndreas DiefenbachPetra Gosten-HeinrichJohannes FriesenRalf IgnatiusToni AebischerChristian Klotz<h4>Background</h4>Giardia duodenalis is a leading cause of gastroenteritis worldwide. Humans are mainly infected by two different subtypes, i.e., assemblage A and B. Genotyping is hampered by allelic sequence heterozygosity (ASH) mainly in assemblage B, and by occurrence of mixed infections. Here we assessed the suitability of current genotyping protocols of G. duodenalis for epidemiological applications such as molecular tracing of transmission chains.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>Two G. duodenalis isolate collections, from an outpatient tropical medicine clinic and from several primary care laboratories, were characterized by assemblage-specific qPCR (TIF, CATH gene loci) and a common multi locus sequence typing (MLST; TPI, BG, GDH gene loci). Assemblage A isolates were further typed at additional loci (HCMP22547, CID1, RHP26, HCMP6372, DIS3, NEK15411). Of 175/202 (86.6%) patients the G. duodenalis assemblage could be identified: Assemblages A 25/175 (14.3%), B 115/175 (65.7%) and A+B mixed 35/175 (20.0%). By incorporating allelic sequence heterozygosity in the analysis, the three marker MLST correctly identified 6/9 (66,7%) and 4/5 (80.0%) consecutive samples from chronic assemblage B infections in the two collections, respectively, and identified a cluster of five independent patients carrying assemblage B parasites of identical MLST type. Extended MLST for assemblage A altogether identified 5/6 (83,3%) consecutive samples from chronic assemblage A infections and 15 novel genotypes. Based on the observed A+B mixed infections it is estimated that only 75% and 50% of assemblage A or B only cases represent single strain infections, respectively. We demonstrate that typing results are consistent with this prediction.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Typing of assemblage A and B isolates with resolution for epidemiological applications is possible but requires separate genotyping protocols. The high frequency of multiple infections and their impact on typing results are findings with immediate consequences for result interpretation in this field.https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009277&type=printable
spellingShingle Andreas Woschke
Mirko Faber
Klaus Stark
Martha Holtfreter
Frank Mockenhaupt
Joachim Richter
Thomas Regnath
Ingo Sobottka
Ingrid Reiter-Owona
Andreas Diefenbach
Petra Gosten-Heinrich
Johannes Friesen
Ralf Ignatius
Toni Aebischer
Christian Klotz
Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
title Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.
title_full Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.
title_fullStr Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.
title_full_unstemmed Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.
title_short Suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human Giardia duodenalis isolates.
title_sort suitability of current typing procedures to identify epidemiologically linked human giardia duodenalis isolates
url https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0009277&type=printable
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